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First-Hand Bits of Stable Lore 




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First-Hand Bits of 

Stable Lore 

By 

Francis M. Ware 



Illustrated from Photographs 



Boston 

Little, Brown, and Company 

1903 



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Copyright, igo2. 
By Little, Brown, and Company. 



^// rights reserved 



Published December, 1902 



UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON 
AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



PREFACE 

THESE chapters, except that on "Man- 
agement of a Pack of Hounds," appeared 
originally in the "Boston Transcript;" 
the chapter nanied, in the magazine Coach and 
Saddle^ Chicago, 111., of which the author is the 
editor. The pictures are from photographs taken 
by Messrs. W. P. Robertson, 738 Eighth Avenue, 
New York, and Messrs. Schreiber & Son, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

The chapters epitomize thirty years' active per- 
sonal experience with every kind of horse for 
every conceivable purpose, and the deductions 
drawn are in no sense theoretical. Such a book 
would have greatly helped the author when he 
began as a youngster, and it is his earnest hope 
that it may prove of use to others. 

FRANCIS M. WARE. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

I. Horse Buying and Horse Trying .... i 

II. As TO "Soundness" 2z 

III. Stabling and Stables 33 

IV. Stable Management 47 

V. Condition and Conditioning 60 

VI. The "Green" or Unacclimated Horse and 

His Care 73 

VII. The Horse's Education 81 

VIII. Mouths and Manners 99 

IX. The Foot and its Treatment 115 

X. The Appointment Fad » 125 

XI. The Saddle-Horse 140 

XII. The Hunter and His Education . . . . 159 

XIII. The Steeplechaser and His Schooling . . 1 80 

XIV. Riding for Women and Children .... 197 

XV. Four-in-Hand Driving . „ 211 

vii 



CONTENTS 

Chapter. Page 

XVI. Coaching and its Accompaniments . . . 230 

XVII. Management of a Pack of Hounds . . . 251 

XVIII. Showing Horses 288 



vin 



ILLUSTRAriONS 

At Exercise Frontispiece 

For Road Work Page z 

Mr. Reginald Vanderbilt and his runabout pair. 

A Smooth Pebble ,,22 

For Town or Park ,,34 

Mr. A. A. Hausman's Royal Swell. 

A Capital Phaeton Pair ,,48 

Mrs. John Gerken driving Brandon and Eelmar. 

Worth Schooling ,,60 

Just from the Country ,,74 

Even All-round Action ,,82 

Mr. G. B. Hulme and his prize winner. 

Perfect Manners ,,98 

Mr. R. F. Carman and a prize winner. 

My Daughter's Saddle-Horse ,,114 

Mrs. John Gerken' s My Lady Dainty. 

Neady Appointed ,,126 

Mr. Herbert Coppell's carriage and pair. 

A Weight Carrier ,,140 

H. L. de Bussigny riding. 
ix 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Good Form P^S^ '^° 

Mr. J. Trowbridge Martin jumping Samoset. 

A Steeplechase Type ,, 1 80 

On Good Terms ,,198 

Mrs. H. H. Good riding Thyra. 

Fourteen Miles an Hour ,,212 

Mr. Alfred G. Vanderbilt and his four. 

"Coach, Gentlemen!" ,, 230 

The Good Times Coach. 

"Pack up ! all of yer ! " ,, 252 

Pennbrook Hounds. 

Good Types ,, 288 

The Gig Class at Bay Shore Horse Show. 



FIRST-HAND BITS 
OF STABLE LORE 

Chapter I 

HORSE BUYING AND HORSE TRYING 

SOONER or later there awakens in the 
breast of every wholesome and normal 
man the desire to own a horse, and, that 
flame once kindled, there is nothing which 
will assuage it, should Fortune prove ordinarily- 
urbane, but the delights — and the disasters — of 
ownership. To " witch the world with noble 
horsemanship" has been the ambition of many an 
unsung hero, even as in the days of Jehu, the son 
of Nimshi, and of Alexander; and the agility, the 
decision of character, the patience, and the courage 
such pursuits develop are invariably the strongest 
arguments in their favor. As we teach our chil- 
dren to read and to write, so should we thoroughly 
instruct them in the best methods of equestrianism, 
watermanship, marksmanship, etc. ; and better far 
> I 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

is he equipped who is au fait in such accomplish- 
ments — with some thoroughly comprehended 
trade to fall back upon if necessary — than the 
young men who are annually turned forth in 
thousands from our colleges with nothing but a 
" sheepskin " to cover their nakedness, and left 
trembling upon the threshold of a destiny with 
which their average collegiate acquirements have 
but illy fitted them to cope. That courses in 
such matters are not open to the pupils of our 
universities is matter for comment and reflection, 
as is the fact that modern languages have, in com- 
parison with the ancient, until recently formed but 
an insignificant portion of the preliminary require- 
ments and regular curriculum. 

Given the ambition to own a horse, and the 
question of "means" affirmatively answered, the 
obstacle of "ways" remains; and many a Mr. 
Neophyte has found, or fancied, this an insur- 
mountable obstacle. Generally recourse is had to 
Uncle John, whom family tradition has handed 
down as a combination of the serpent and the 
hawk in matters equine ; Cousin Will also knows 
a man who is on terms of friendship with another 
man who keeps several horses, and is therefore an 
expert; grandma, according to the fairy-tales 

1 




o 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

recited at family reunions on Thanksgiving and 
Christmas, was a regular daredevil in her salad 
days, and still has fancies for the flowing tails and 
arching necks that used to look so well on sofa 
cushion and sampler ; the news spreads through- 
out the family that Henry is about to buy a horse, 
and accordingly Henry, after much reflection as 
to how that act will afi^ect him with regard to his 
business associates and social intimates, prepares 
for the fatal plunge. 

Right here is where Mr. Neophyte accumulates 
a cargo of trouble that would stagger a dromedary 
if he does not, once and forever, cast grandmas, 
aunts, cousins, friends and all, into the outer dark- 
ness. A man's wife and his horse are two acquisitions 
which he must choose for himself; and he who tries 
to please every one will end by displeasing them as 
well as himself. He will have been told blood- 
curdling tales of the duplicity and chicanery of horse- 
dealers, and of the treacherous and evil disposition 
of horses ; and he enters upon his quest with 
much the same feeling that surges in the breast 
of a twentieth-century society girl on her first 
slumming expedition, — prepared to be dreadfully 
shocked, and finally disappointed that the incidents 
and surroundings are common-place after all. 

3 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

The process of buying a satisfactory horse is so 
very simple that it is most extraordinary that no 
one, or practically no one, follows it. If you 
want a set of furniture you go to a store ; look 
over the goods, ask the prices, select your arti- 
cles, and pay for them ; you do the same thing 
with all the necessaries and luxuries of life, save 
and except when it comes to the purchase of a 
horse. You do not insult the furniture dealer by 
asking idiotic questions about things of which you 
know nothing and he knows you know nothing ; if 
he says that this wood is mahogany, and that bruise 
came from an accident in unpacking, you accept 
his statement ; you do not look at him with the 
"icy eye of suspicion," as one who would say, 
" Great Scott ! what a monumental liar is this ! " 
nor, when he has named his price, do you offer 
him fifty per cent thereof, and insinuate that he 
is a scoundrel and a pirate for not jumping at it. 
In short you "go shopping" for horses as you 
do for no other commodity, and if you " get 
stuck " you are, in nine cases out of ten, obtain- 
ing your just deserts. 

If you want to buy a horse go to any dealer — 
you can't go wrong, general opinions to the con- 
trary — treat him like a man, and be sure he will 

4 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

reciprocate, be he Jew or Gentile, " Gyp " or 
genuine. Say to him, " I want a horse for such 
and such purposes, and place myself absolutely 
in your hands, save that I shall have a veteri- 
narian to decide whether the animal is practically 
sound, and reasonably likely to remain so in the 
work for which I intend him. I know absolutely 
nothing about horses " (it will cost you a struggle 
to acknowledge this, but never mind, it 's no secret, 
for the dealer knew it the moment you walked 
into the yard, and he will think a lot of you for 
being man enough to acknowledge what to him 
was perfectly plain) , " and shall be guided by you 
not only in the selection, but in the subsequent 
treatment of my purchase. I expect a frank 
description of all my acquisition's shortcomings, 
that I may allow for them." Now, if that dealer 
can fit you out, be sure he will do it to the very 
best of his ability, and take pride in so doing. 
On the other hand, if you take Uncle John along, 
that worthy old gentleman hops around the beast 
produced for his inspection, like an old crow 
around a bone, and makes occasional verbal pecks 
in this fashion : " Six years, hey? Had his mouth 
fixed, likely. I '11 bet he won't see ten again. 
What's that on his off hock? Nothing! D'ye 

5 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

call that hock smooth? Isn't he over a little 
mite on that knee? Eyes look kinder blinky. 
Sure he ain't moon-eyed, hey ? Don't kick, does 
he ? Looks kinder mean. Well, hitch him up, 
and if he don't balk, and ain't much scared of 
'lectrics, why, Henry, we'll drive him up to the 
house and see what grandma and Mr. Brown 
and the folks think." Now what is a dealer to 
do with people like that? What would you do 
yourself to a man who thus maligned a horse you 
knew to be absolutely all right; a man who, you 
could tell the moment you saw him, didn't know 
a horse-car from a car-horse, and was simply 
handing out a lot of drivel which he had acquired 
at second-hand, and with which he was trying to 
impress you. Every word was a covert insult; 
every look a slap in the face; and as human nature 
is weak and prone to err, we must not blame the 
dealer if he occasionally is tried too far, and hands 
back to the Uncle Johns (who are so prevalent) 
*' what is coming to him, and good and plenty," 
as Westerners would say. 

Remember that, as a class, horse-dealers are as 
reputable as any business men. Investigation 
will prove that while there are in our penal insti- 
tutions numerous black sheep of all trades, busi- 

6 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

nesses, and professions, there are precious few 
horsemen. Respect decent men, and let them 
see that you do. You will, perhaps, afford them 
an agreeable and a novel sensation. Once you 
have taken the dealer's word and completed the 
transaction, do not expect that, because of the 
wisdom of your adviser, or through your own 
preternatural sagacity, your $250 horse is worth 
at least I500. One's geese may be swans, but 
whatever price you paid, it was full value, and 
the dealer would tell you so if you asked him. 
He is no Santa Claus, nor is he in business for 
health any more than you pursue your own avo- 
cation for the ozone that may be in it. He got 
full value, or you would n't have got the horse, 
and upon his always doing so depends his ability 
to eat porter-house steak whenever his appetite 
impels. You got fair value for your money, and 
that, reader mine, is about all we can ever expect, 
in this vale of tears, from anybody. 

One thing more and we will be moving. When 
you get ready to sell, don't, for pity's sake, be 
you novice or expert, imagine that you can use a 
horse from three to ten years, and then get for 
him more than you paid originally. A $60 suit 
of clothes sells for $2 after one year's wear. Why 

7 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

must a horse that cost $1^0 stand five years' hard 
usage and then bring ^300, or the man that you 
bought him of be held up as a rogue forever more ? 
When you do get ready to sell him, never under- 
take to give warranty, which perhaps you do with 
the best intentions, and then take refuge behind 
your ignorance, which then (and only then) you 
are willing to frankly acknowledge. If you could 
see the debit accounts on the books of every 
dealer in the business chargeable to the screws he 
has bought or "traded for" (unseen) from his 
customers, whose representations (generally most 
flowery) are rarely anywhere near accurate ! 

The horse to buy is the animal that fills the 
eye; in other words, if you like a horse and his 
qualities seem satisfactory, buy him, and results 
will almost certainly prove likewise. We have 
several good show ring judges who select their 
winners practically on these lines, and to general 
satisfaction. Distrust the sunken eye, and the 
head narrow and prominent between the ey-es — 
that horse may not be vicious, but he is peculiar 
and probably crochetty — perhaps "a good 'un 
w'en yer knows 'im, but yer got ter know 'im 
fust." Lop ears are a disfigurement; jaws that 
seem narrow, and necks that are thick are a likely 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

combination, after some sickness, to afFord you a 
thick-winded horse. Buy a horse largely "on 
his face," as you trust a man, — his character is 
there if you can read it, as you may if you will 
try. A thick and heavy shoulder is rather " har- 
nessy," yet excellent saddle horses and hunters 
are that way built — in fact, for saddle and jump- 
ing purposes we have for generations been con- 
sidering the wrong end of the horse. Well- 
developed withers are desirable, especially for a 
lady's hack, but never forget that your ride, your 
ease and comfort, come from the other end, as 
we shall see later. As to legs and feet, never 
mind measurements below the knee and around 
the arm, for horses work on for years on legs that 
are all out of proportion, and the best looking 
limbs and feet go wrong in no time. Therefore, 
if you like the looks of him, go ahead, no matter 
what anybody says ; buy him, if he 's reasonably 
sound, but don't let the veterinary, as he is prone 
to do, attempt to predict what may happen after 
you have owned him six years. You '11 all be in 
luck if any of you are alive then. Walk him and 
trot him (in hand) to and from you ; if he does n't 
stand straight and move straight, if he "wings" 
or " dishes," as he certainly will if he is not 

9 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

true on his joints, don't have him, and give the 
dealer the reason, — that is one thing you can 
see and judge for yourself. Of course the only 
probable result is that he may have to wear boots 
somewhere, but moderate-priced horses are too 
plenty to make it necessary to bother with 
the crooked-legged sort. At " bargain-counter " 
rates the aspect changes, but the $3.98 horse 
(marked up from I2.37) is better left to the expert 
(if there are any such individuals). " Real old 
English " prints give us short back, rare loins, deep 
ribs, long quarters, great stifles, and second thighs, 
and all that ; English sporting prose and verse 
record their virtues and extol their necessity, and 
the result would be as vastly edifying as desirable 
were it not for the fact that, so far as actual im- 
portance goes, every one of these much-lauded 
points is not only non-essential, but practically of 
little value ! A short back is becoming, is grace- 
ful, is acceptable, but many of our best horses — 
racing, chasing, saddling, trotting, driving, and 
weight-carrying — have been as long as a street 
in the back, as slack as a hammock in the loin, 
as shallow in back-rib (not front, or round chest) 
as a soup-plate, as short in the quarters as a 
Jersey yearling, and as narrow and undeveloped 

10 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

in second thighs as a hound pup ; in fact not a 
few breeders of thoroughbreds maintain that this 
latter characteristic is essential to the race horse, 
and Hanover and imported Meddler were both 
entirely wanting in any development there. A 
tail, well set and gaily carried, is attractive and 
generally evidence of good courage, yet beware 
the tail that is carried to one side, for it is almost 
an infallible signal of an existing weakness of 
structure somewhere in the anatomy of that side, 
which may have developed, may be developing, 
or may never develop, but probably will. The 
drooping quarter and low-set tail are generally 
indications that a horse is quick on his feet, and 
will jump well, so that, in race horse or hunter, 
this formation is rather desirable. The horse 
whose hocks are set in will not improbably inter- 
fere, over-reach, or " cross-fire; " that is, overreach 
on to the opposite forefoot. Your veterinary will 
tell you if he has done any or all of these things, 
or if he is shod to correct or prevent them ; as 
also whether his teeth show marks of cribbing, his 
jugular vein has been interfered with by bleeding, 
etc. On all such matters be guided by him. 

Above all things get the bugbear of actual 
soundness out of your head, and be satisfied with 

II 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the practical, for that 's all you can get, anyway. 
No horse is absolutely sound, so why bother ? 
And if he could be, and you used him hard 
enough and long enough, he would not remain 
so. The fact that your bookkeeper has a " base- 
ball " finger does n't worry you ; why need the 
fact that your beast exhibits an odd splint, spavin, 
bog, etc., so long as they cause no lameness, in- 
convenience you more than him ? An owner 
may have "spavin on the brain," and it will 
affect him far more, nine times out often, than 
it does his family slave, who cheerfully carries it 
about for years. Nothing is so certain as the 
fact that, if a blemish or unsoundness exists, there 
can hardly be another in the same place and of 
the same sort, and the man who buys his blem- 
ishes with his horse is relieved of a vast amount 
of anxiety as to whether they may come, by the 
fact that they already exist. You may say that 
this is the philosophical view to take of it, but 
what more important and generally satisfactory 
view can one take of anything ^ And what is 
life, anyway, without the ability to so view mat- 
ters generally ? Remember, this is not written 
for the " expert " (?) owner, the rich buyer, the 
wholesale user of horseflesh, but for the " little 

12 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

men," who are in a state of transition between 
steering a baby-carriage and a horse, and who, if 
they find actual experience satisfactory and econo- 
mical, may develop later into leviathan purchasers, 
and can then gratify unhindered personal whims 
and the caprice of family or friends. 

A horse of five or six or seven years is not as 
generally sought and as urgently demanded as 
was the case some years ago. This is for practi- 
cal reasons. The animal of eight to twelve is in 
his prime ; he has passed, more or less success- 
fully, through the trials and the accidents of youth, 
and, as he is now, so will he probably remain, 
for as many years as any horse ought. Practical 
soundness in a horse of this age means a lot, and 
it is for that reason, among others, that he is so 
much more desirable than a younger beast to 
whose condition it may not continue, for long, to 
apply. Invariably, however, go to one expense 
with such a horse, and never omit it ; get a first- 
class horse dentist, and be sure that his teeth are, 
or are placed, in thorough order — the outlay will 
repay you a hundredfold. 

Having looked him over, liked him, " vet " ed 
him, etc., we will proceed to try him. Right 
here, and generally through a most natural and 

13 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

over-looked cause, is where so many troubles and 
so much dissatisfaction arise in horse buying. A 
dealer drives all day, and every day, all sorts of 
rough, half-schooled and timid horses, in the pro- 
cess of " city-breaking " them ; going past, and up 
to all sorts of objects with perfect safety, and as 
a matter of course with horses which, until they 
learn their way about, would climb trees and 
church-steeples with the average driver. Conse- 
quently, he is utterly unable to answer intelli- 
gently the question whether any horse is quiet and 
" family broken." He is, with the dealer^ a per- 
fect lamb, and that gentleman honestly considers 
him so. With you he proves a regular " limb," 
and dire is your consequent wrath, and great the 
possible destruction of your property. Yet the 
horse is again, in the dealer's hands, as you are 
much mortified to find, a patent-safety convey- 
ance. Both parties are honest in such transactions, 
and both right according to their lights, but the 
dealer invariably gets the worst of it. Yet it was 
all your own fault, every bit of it. The dealer 
knew you were not a horseman the moment he 
saw you. The horse realized it the moment you 
laid hands on reins, and he took liberties accord- 
ingly. The dealer could not possibly know what 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

a duffer you would prove, and was absolutely 
honest in his representations. Yet trouble en- 
sues, and nothing will convince you that he is not 
a scamp, and him that you are not a hopeless 
imbecile. To prevent any such misunderstand- 
ings insist upon driving yourself from the time 
you leave the stable door — and out of the door 
also. If the horse is too much for you in any 
way, say so frankly, and try another, nor let false 
pride prevent. The dealer is trying to suit ; give 
him a fair chance and prevent all afterclaps. 
Drive the horse to the objects you want him to 
see, and allow no argument against it. Explain 
this to the owner before you start, and don't let 
him harness the horse unless the understanding 
to that effect is clear. His time is worth as 
much as yours. Don't be satisfied with a trial at 
electric cars, for instance, in the city streets. No 
horse minds them there unless he is a regular 
Indian. Find things to suit you, and take no 
one's " sayso " for any such particulars. If the 
dealer will not agree to this, which is absolutely a 
fair trial, tell him to " keep his old horse." There 
are others ; and you are well within your rights. 
The qualities of a horse must absolutely suit, or 
you are foolish to take him, and many a cut of 

15 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the whip, and "jab" in the mouth will be his 
luckless portion because he does some little thing, 
or has some little trick, which you don't like. 

Be sure the animal backs freely (many of them 
do not) , and that up hill. Let him get his tail 
over the reins ; he'd better kick then, if he's that 
way inclined, than after you own him. Hit him 
sharply near the root of the tail for the same 
reason ; pull him up sharp, and start him quickly 
to see if he is balky or inclined to get mad, and 
to be hot about it ; in short, put him through any 
" stunts " you consider necessary or advisable, but 
invariably have a distinct understanding with the 
dealer first. 

Now that your Bucephalus is tried, and we 
hope bought and taken home, there are two things 
to be especially insisted upon. First, use him, 
and keep using him. Don't think because he is 
new to you that he is too precious to work. The 
reason for his demure behavior is because he has 
labored regularly and steadily for somebody, so 
keep him going. 

" Mark that day lost which sees the setting sun 
Descend upon at least ten miles undone " 

may be pasted over Charlie's box-stall door (let's 
hope you will give him a box). So use him 

i6 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

regularly and plentifully, that 's what he is for ; 
nor, if you and the groom and the children and 
grandma and the entire outfit will all persist in feed- 
ing him and in driving him, perhaps only to the 
post-office and back, can you blame either Charlie or 
his former master if some day, in sheer lightness of 
heart, he sends the dasher flying about your ears. 
Secondly, never believe the ghost story that 
Charlie or any other horse is, was, or will be 
" safe for women to drive," for that means 
safe under every and all possible (and impossible) 
conditions ; no such horse was ever foaled, and 
putting women aside, no horse is " absolutely 
safe" for any man to drive. There are three 
very excellent reasons why no woman, unaccom- 
panied by a man, should drive any horse; that is, 
the average woman who " sometimes used to 
drive old Nellie and the carryall when a girl," 
and who, now that Henry is able to afford a turn- 
out, wants to take the family out behind the new 
horse because the dealer said "a woman could 
drive him." A woman has never been taught to 
shut her hands (and has no strength when they 
are shut) ; she wears gloves generally much too 
small for her, or, if large enough, they button tight 
around the wrist, which is as bad, so far as cramp- 

2 ly 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

ing the muscles goes, and she does not " make 
allowances ; " everything the new horse does must 
be the identical thing that old Nellie did, and that 
respected and defunct family treasure is the coat 
which the cloth of the new horse must fit, or 
woe to his former possessor — the dealer. A 
horse is a fool, and he is a coward ; his mind is 
one-ideaed ; and what he has done is no criterion 
of what he may do at the next moment. Nature 
constructed him thus, and he is not to be blamed 
for his limitations, but- they must be recognized 
and allowed for. The man who unreservedly 
places his family at the mercy of any horse under 
feminine guidance courts disaster, which is almost 
certain sooner or later to arrive ; and the dealer 
who sells a horse with a warranty that it is safe 
for a woman to use, does a most reprehensible 
thing, and carelessly exposes to danger thousands 
of innocent lives. A horse fears nothing familiar, 
nearly everything that is strange ; a woman's 
skirts fluttering in the wind will stampede a herd 
of plains horses, who will, any of them, allow one 
to shoot from their backs ; and some day the one 
dreadful object heaves in view ; foolishness prompts 
fear, fear flight ; weak arms, slender hands, and 
tight gloves play their useless parts, and Mary 

i8 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

and the children are sprinkled over the country- 
side as victims to man's folly. 

Perhaps all this may sound very discouraging, 
but be that as it may, isn't it true, and aren't we, 
lots of us, "monkeying" with an equine" buzz- 
saw " that needs proper attention and fairly capa- 
ble engineers to handle it ? A danger that is 
appreciated is half prevented, and if those who 
realize their own shortcomings in such matters will 
but see to it that their boys and girls are from 
childhood accustomed to, and properly instructed 
in, the methods of managing successfully horses 
and other animals, they will endow their children 
with a most valuable mental, moral, physical, and 
(possibly) pecuniary asset; they will add incalcu- 
lably to the safety of traffic in all thoroughfares in 
town and country ; they will open up wide fields of 
pleasure to their offspring, and they will further 
by leaps and bounds the proper appreciation, the 
humane and common-sense management of horses, 
and, through that, of all kinds of dumb animals. 

The S. P. C. A. has most signally and 
singularly missed the point at which it has aimed 
because of the neglect of this very matter of teach- 
ing the children the proper management of 
animals, and making it a part of their up-bring- 

19 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

ing. What matters it that an occasional brute of 
a man is imprisoned or fined? He knows no 
better, nor will his descendants learn from his 
punishment. Show them the why and wherefore 
of such matters by actual demonstration, talks, 
lectures, pictures, living examples, and teach them 
not only the proper treatment of birds, cats, dogs, 
horses, etc., but explain to them in a practical 
way how and why things are right and v/rong. 
Text-books and pamphlets are all very well, but 
they are not practical, and no one knows that 
more quickly than the children for whom they 
are intended. Such matters should be part of 
the curriculum of every school (public or private) 
and college ; not the dilettante end of it, but the 
hard, old business end that has, after all, so much 
in it of sentiment, of sympathy, of romance to 
those who really love dumb animals and appre- 
ciate their needs and their neglect. 

Prices, of course, vary as widely as do the merits 
of the animals sought. A good, plain, family 
horse will cost all the way from |ioo to ^250, 
the first figure, or perhaps a trifle less, being 
sufficient to secure a practically sound, " second- 
hand " animal, displaying probably the scars and 
effects of honorable toil, but none the worse for 

20 



HORSE BUYING AND TRYING 

them so far as utility goes. The last-named figure 
will secure as good a horse as any one needs for 
family purposes, — sound, rugged, free, powerful 
and clever. The family horse may be called the 
staple of the carriage-horse trade, and from him up- 
ward prices increase by leaps and bounds in propor- 
tion to the possession of the " Seven Royal S's," — 
Symmetry, Speed, Style, Size, Shape, Substance and 
Safety. Such figures as I500 to $2,500, for single 
horses, $1,000 to $5,000 for pairs, etc., are prices 
paid every day, and exciting no special comment- 
Never buy a horse in the spring, for the reason 
that the active market puts prices up 40% : nor 
sell in the fall, since opposite conditions cause the 
same ratio of depreciation. The winter or the 
summer are also appropriate times to invest, but 
you are apt to find then only the leavings of the 
active seasons. As every one else sells in the 
fall, do you buy then, even if you have to board 
out your purchase until wanted. It is the cheap- 
est plan, and there are hundreds of excellent 
animals on sale which, fresh from the country in 
the previous spring, have been used just enough 
to thoroughly season, city-break, and way-wise 
them. These are your choicest bargains. 



21 



chapter II 

AS TO "SOUNDNESS" 

IN view of the increasing difficulty in obtaining 
strictly high-class horses for any purpose, it 
would appear inevitable that the consumer 
must make up his mind to accept fair-class 
horses that are not quite sound, or to put up with 
sound animals of moderate individual merits. It 
is becoming impossible for dealers to find sound 
horses of the highest class. In no country are 
the buyers' exactions as to soundness as severe as 
they are in America, and in no country are they 
so unreasonably and unwisely strict, — "unreas- 
onably " because perfection is insisted upon when 
certain departures from it do not affect usefulness, 
and "unwisely" because the presence of these 
defects will often result in the rejection of an 
animal otherwise exactly suitable to the buyer 
and his purposes. To the average purchaser, 
absolute soundness is a "bugaboo" which he, 
parrot-like, insists upon ; fearing to invest in 

22 




f^lKH^l^^rpi^'rm^^ 



AS TO "SOUNDNESS" 

anything to which the adjective may not properly 
apply. Of course the majority of buyers are 
unable to decide for themselves as to what defects 
are really injurious, or likely to become so ; or 
even to determine whether blemishes exist at all. 
In this emergency the veterinarian is called in, 
and the matter is blindly left to his verdict, which 
is competent so far as concerns physical merit, 
but generally weak when it includes an opinion as 
to the fitness of the animal for the purpose 
intended. It will thus be seen that the veter- 
inary is generally (in private dealing at least) 
the arbiter who decides the points at issue, and 
that, so far as a " deal " is concerned, he is the 
power behind the throne. 

Not only by private buyers, but by the dealers 
themselves, is the veterinarian consulted more and 
more every day ; his opinions are more carefully 
weighed, and his place in the horse-world more 
generally appreciated and properly recognized. 
He has it in his power, therefore, by timely word 
and proper demonstration, largely to modify the 
exactions of a public which does not at all realize 
that it is demanding impossibilities when it insists 
upon having a sound horse, — such a creature hav- 
ing never been seen — and to cause it to realize 

23 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

that the practically sound animal, varying only in 
degree and amount of physical imperfections, is 
the best to be expected. 

The veterinary surgeons should agree (as they 
have it so easily in their power, through their 
different associations, to do) upon some line of 
action in this matter, which they will universally 
adopt, and upon distinct modifications of the 
requirements of the public, which they will rec- 
ommend, publishing to the world exactly what 
these are, and standing by them. The younger 
members of the fraternity would be especially 
helped by such action, for while they have, one 
and all, the technical part of the profession at 
their fingers' and tongues' end, they are neces- 
sarily lacking in that practical application which 
is so absolutely a matter of observation and ex- 
perience. Carried away by enthusiasm for their 
calling, and filled with lofty resolutions of never 
passing an animal not perfectly sound; rigor- 
ously applying in all points the precepts of their 
instructors, these young men unwittingly work a 
lot of injustice to sellers, and prevent many buyers 
from investing in horses perfectly suited to their 
needs, and physically able for service of many 
years' duration, simply because the animals are un- 

24 



AS TO "SOUNDNESS" 

fortunate enough to fall short of the high physical 
standard arbitrarily imposed. For another thing, 
there are numerous veterinarians, who — whisper ! 
— are not horsemen ; that is, in the broad sense of 
being " born horsemen." They know technique, 
they have an eagle eye and velvet touch and all 
the other qualifications for the job, but they are 
not horsemen. They have been taught the busi- 
ness all right enough, but they lack the intuitive 
appreciation of the " born horseman." to apply it 
fairly for the best interests of all. 

Many angry mutterings are heard at our horse- 
shows every year through this lack of any recog- 
nized system. The show-ring legend, " Horses 
must be practically sound," means what ? And 
the occasional stipulation, " Horses must be 
sound " (no " if" or " perhaps " about it), is to be 
construed how ? And how many of the horses, 
exhibited in any class, would receive a clean bill 
of health ? A splint is a splint, a filled tendon is 
nothing else, a coarse hock is not smooth, a " bit 
of a cold" is not good wind. Where shall the 
line be drawn, and who shall draw it ? 

The foreign buyers, especially the English- 
men, have " wiped our eye " significantly over 
this soundness matter. Bumpy or smooth, if the 

25 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

horses " look the part" and fill the eye, they will 
not be denied, and insist upon but two points 
— a horse's wind and eyes must be good. The 
heavy English climate and the fondness for horse- 
beans and other concentrated food over there, 
work havoc with lungs, throat, and eyes, and for- 
eign talent is therefore naturally suspicious of 
" roarers," " whistlers," " grunters," " wheezers," 
and " blinky 'uns," as a dealer put it. For other 
bodily infirmities, however, they have a large 
toleration, and will put up with all sorts of 
"ornaments" if considered in the price. In no 
particular have they so taught us a lesson as in the 
matter of purchasing cavalry and artillery horses. 
Our idiotic governmental requirements compel 
inspectors to condemn quantities of capital animals, 
merely on the ground of slight physical defects 
that amount to nothing, resulting in the accumu- 
lation of a lot of brutes for our army use that 
have no merit whatever but that of freedom from 
blemish, and are in many cases utterly unfit for 
the purposes intended. The foreigner, on the 
contrary, fills his hand from our discards, with the 
result that he accumulates from the leavings of 
our inspectors a cracking lot of horses, a credit 
to any army, but many of them blemished in 

26 



AS TO "SOUNDNESS" 

unimportant ways, practical soundness being 
good enough. 

When does a " coarse " hock become a " spav- 
ined " hock ? What constitutes a " well-placed" 
splint ? Shall a horse always be " turned down " 
for side-bones when his work is to be on soft 
ground, if he is not lame at the time and is eight 
or ten years old ; bearing in mind that many a 
horse is, although thus afflicted, working on city 
" rocks " and going sound ? Shall a " properly 
placed " ( ! ) ringbone always disqualify ? Shall 
curbs condemn, without regard to age, the shape 
of the leg and the manner of shoeing? Shall 
"wire cuts" be considered as to possible future 
ejffect, etc. ? These and dozens of other matters 
might well be settled officially by our veterinary 
societies, and a full and free discussion of them 
courted both from the professional and the 
amateur, the buyer's and the seller's stand- 
point. 

Considering the most common forms of un- 
soundness, from the practical standpoint of the 
consumer, not from the technical position of 
the veterinarian, the matter of splints occupies 
the first place. The following points must be 
considered in deciding as to the practical useful- 

27 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE TORE 

ness of an animal so afflicted, — his age, the size 
and location of the deposit, the work required, 
his action and the peculiarities of his gait. Situ- 
ated close under the knee, or in the form called 
"pegged," splints almost invariably cause trouble, 
interfering with articulation (possibly) in the one 
case, and with the tendons in the other. The 
very low placed splint is suspicious for the same 
reason. Any splints on horses under five years 
old are Hkely, owing to immaturity of the subject, 
to cause trouble. A very large splint, wherever 
situated, is also open to condemnation ; of course 
for draught purposes, concussion being less, all 
risks are smaller. High action not only produces 
but often largely increases any deposit. Many 
animals that "wind," "paddle," or "dish," will 
brush a splint so lightly as not to cause a blemish, 
but will produce an irritation and soreness which 
results in lameness. Imperfect action is always 
to be regarded with distrust. 

The presence of spavin — qualified frequently 
under the complimentary title of " coarse hock " 
— is becoming astonishingly common, and the 
number of horses so afflicted which are in daily hard 
work, and free from conspicuous or troublesome 
lameness, is remarkable. The true " coarse hock " 

28 



AS TO "SOUNDNESS" 

is as durable as the smooth joint, if not more so, 
and its very roughness and prominence about the 
articulation seems to proclaim its rugged quality. 
This roughness of the hock-joint, however, will 
generally be found to be accompanied by the 
same general characteristics in all the articulations 
of the individual, and a truly " coarse hock " is 
seldom or never present in an animal of otherwise 
fine-grained quality ; nor is an animal likely to 
have one coarse hock, and one smooth one ; in 
either of these cases any deviation from smooth- 
ness must logically be classed as true spavin. 
Suspicion in any case may be made certainty by 
driving the suspect until thoroughly warmed up, 
leaving him in his stall for an hour or two, and 
then re-examining him (watching especially how 
he backs out of the stall) , and turning him sharply 
both ways before trotting him, slowly, to halter, 
and with his head loose. You may also hold his 
foot well up against the stomach for a few 
moments to cramp the hock-joint, and then trot 
him again. If afflicted he will surely go lame, 
although a sound horse will generally do the same 
for a few steps, if you cramp the joint long enough. 
Curb never matters provided the horse be 
eight years old or more, has a naturally good and 

29 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

true-shaped hind leg, and shows no lameness 
after cooling out. The sickle-hocked, round- 
boned sort should be left alone, even if smooth ; 
for any strain or wrench may " spring " the 
blemish. Many horses have a natural prominence 
at the curb-place caused by the extension of the 
cuboid bones ; but if there is no enlargement of 
the sheath of the tendon there, the horse is sound. 
Any fresh curb causes inflammation, pain and 
ensuing lameness, temporary in nature only. As 
a precautionary measure, all horses with curb, or 
curby hocks, should be shod with shoes raised at 
the heels. 

Sound wind is usual in the East, almost uni- 
versal in the altitudes of the far West. Practi- 
cally we are troubled only with "roarers" and 
" whistlers." The " grunter " (which may develop 
something more) is carefully rejected by English- 
men, because of their heavier home climate, but 
we are never troubled by him, as the infirmity is 
only rarely noticeable. Nearly all such horses 
may be greatly helped by keeping the neck and 
jowl well sweated out; and occasionally artificial 
means will almost entirely prevent the noise. 

Osselets — small bony deposits on the front 
ankles — are very common in the race-horse, and 

30 



AS TO "SOUNDNESS** 

not unusual in other varieties which are, when 
immature, put to severe work. They cause per- 
manent blemishes of various sizes, but are rarely, 
after growth is attained and inflammation allayed, 
the cause of permanent lameness. 

Ring-bones and side-bones are serious blemishes 
at times, but do not necessarily interfere with 
work. Side-bone — a thickening and hardening 
of the cartilages contiguous to the coronet — 
causes severe lameness, generally permanent, espe- 
cially where fast work is done, and can be relieved 
only by the generally misunderstood and improp- 
erly condemned process of "nerving." But the 
ring-boned animal may work on for years. 

An animal burdened with any or all of the above- 
mentioned ailments may outwork and outlast the 
stable-mate with a clear bill of health, and, through 
necessity, the buying pubHc will soon acquire a 
toleration in the matter of absolute soundness 
which at present it does not evince. As Pooh 
Bah says in the " Mikado," " Bless you, it all 
depends," and in the next few years we shall see 
many a blemished and technically unsound horse 
filling his place in the owner's affections, and his 
position as a useful slave as honorably as capably. 

When, then, is a horse " usefully sound " ? He 

31 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

is so when his infirmities do not interfere with the 
work at which you intend to use him. Thus an 
animal which is quite lame is " usefully sound " 
for slow work ; a hunter may be crippled in any 
ways that do not affect his galloping and jumping. 
But his eyes and wind tnust be sound. A carriage- 
horse must trot sound, and be sound of wind and 
eyes (although if one eye has by an accident been 
destroyed, it rarely affects usefulness). A saddle- 
horse must be useable as such. Sprung knees 
in all these cases are in the nature of blemishes 
only, and, opinion to the contrary, the strongest 
knee is the natural " buck-knee." Such animals 
are generally particularly sure-footed and safe on 
their feet. 

A horse with navicular disease, quarter-crack, 
corns, quittor, etc., is usefully sound for certain 
work. The opinion of the veterinary is the safest 
guide in all such matters, and is what you pay 
him to express. 



32 



chapter III 

STABLING AND STABLES 

IT is unfortunate for the horses and servants 
who have to occupy them that so few stables 
are built by practical men ; or perhaps it 
is because architects and builders com- 
prise few horsemen in their ranks. Externally 
these structures are usually highly ornamental, 
and frequently extremely attractive ; internally, 
while appearing to the owner and his friends all 
that ingenuity can devise and convenience de- 
mand, they fall short in many of the real es- 
sentials, and prove inconvenient, unhealthy, and 
far from satisfactory. Architecturally they are 
triumphs ; practically they are failures, presenting 
wrong exposures, and providing scientific drainage 
and ventilation which ought to be satisfactory, as 
being of the most expert and newly approved 
patterns, but which do not prove so. Horses 
ought to do well in them, but are always aihng. 
Varnish should keep bright; panels whole; linings 
5 Z2> 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

dry; and harness in good orderj but somehow 
they don't. 

In the same way, by all the accepted laws re- 
lating to building materials, cement or stone floors 
should be the best, and brick buildings the warmest 
or coolest according to the season ; but none of 
these results necessarily obtain, and the scientific 
erection is a dismal failure from every useful point. 
Probably the most expensive and extensive 
stable ever built in America, containing the most 
costly collection of horses in the world, has 
proved so absolutely worthless and unwholesome 
that nearly every one of its valuable inmates 
was taken sick with lung fever, many of them 
dying, and those which recovered being rendered 
valueless for racing purposes. Another enor- 
mously costly set of farm-buildings, erected for 
one of our millionaires had, when completed, no 
place to store away hay, so that another building 
had to be put up for the purpose. Many other 
similar cases could be mentioned. 

What, then, are the essentials of a stable, and 
how may they best be secured ? Convenience 
for all work comes first, then ventilation, next 
drainage, and then proper exposure and situation. 
Convenience (for man and horse) is vitally neces- 

34 




o 



STABLING AND STABLES 

sary to secure comfort and the saving of time. 
Good ventilation will do away with many of the 
evils of bad drainage, and if both of these are per- 
fect, the defects of exposure may be counter- 
acted by verandas or awnings, and thickly lined 
walls. Situation is unimportant if all the other 
details are first class, and high land or low, wet 
or dry, the building may be perfectly wholesome. 

Horses should always be stalled on the north 
or west sides of a stable in order to escape the 
effects of the sun which causes, by its heat, violent 
and extreme variations in temperature during 
each twenty-four hours, throughout all seasons of 
the year. The animal will bear perfectly almost 
any extremes of heat or cold providing it is 
equable ; but neither his constitution, his clothing, 
nor his attendance and environment can adapt 
themselves to the rapid changes which our climate 
assures from a southern or eastern exposure. 

No stable should ever accommodate in one 
apartment more than twelve to twenty horses, for 
the reason that if many of them in cold weather, 
go out at the same time, the removal of so much 
animal heat causes an immediate drop in temper- 
ature, which the opening of various doors aug- 
ments; just as, in the heated term, the return of 

35 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

these horses may raise the thermometer to a dis- 
tressing point, and if the stable is then closed, as 
at night, may seriously affect the inmates. More 
illness is caused in such ways than people at all 
realize or provide for. It is very easy to sub- 
divide all large stables in some way so that all 
the animals are not kept in one lot. Every large 
building must be draughty, and nothing will pre- 
vent this but apartments of reasonable size, and 
careful attention to doors and windows. 

All stables must be arranged so that the opera- 
tions of cleaning, harnessing, etc., can be consec- 
utive, since this means an enormous saving of 
time and labor. Backed from his stall, the horse 
should proceed by direct progress from brushing 
over to harness ; from harness to vehicle ; and 
thence out of the door, reversing this proceeding 
on his return, and arriving in his living-room 
clean, and ready for food and rest, his equipments 
left at their appropriate place along the way from 
the entrance. There must be no running here 
for tools, there for harness, yonder for vehicle, 
but all should be consecutive, convenient, and 
arranged in every detail with that idea. Every- 
thing must be large enough, yet not too big ; 
snug, compact, and " get-at-able." 

36 



STABLING AND STABLES 

Coach-houses should be arranged to comfort- 
ably accommodate the number and sort of vehicles 
intended to be kept there, allowing room to move 
about them easily. Not a few such buildings are 
just too large or too small, — too big for three, 
too small for four ; and in the same way many 
washstands are built too short and narrow. 

Stone or brick stables need plastering or sheath- 
ing to guard against damp, and both walls and 
ceilings must be covered for this reason ; in our 
climate nothing equals a wooden stable, and it is 
always drier, cooler, and warmer than the others, 
if double-boarded, sheathed, and clapboarded. 
Brick or cement floors may answer in the coach- 
house, where there is generally a fire in winter, 
but they are always dangerous as likely to be 
slippery. Horses often plunge at starting, and 
they fall on such floors. 

The coach-house exposure should always be 
southern or western, as insuring ample heat from 
the sun, and insuring rapid drying of vehicles and 
linings. 

All modern forms of drainage and ventilation 
are good, //'they are attended to properly by the 
stablemen. This is however rarely the case, and 
it has proved in practice that the more scientific 

37 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

were such arrangements, the more they were neg- 
lected by the men in charge. No traps, drains, 
or windows, etc., will keep clean, or work them- 
selves for any length of time, and as this is so 
absolutely true, it has always seemed the height 
of folly to expend money upon elaborate sys- 
tems which would forthwith, through neglect, 
be reduced to absolute or comparative ineffi- 
ciency. If the master sees for himself that all 
such details are properly administered, well and 
good — but he never does. If he did, the same 
argument would hold good, for then the most 
crude arrangements would answer perfectly. So 
far as absolute satisfaction and inexpensiveness 
goes, the writer has found best results from lead- 
ing all stall drains into a receptacle built in the 
floor, and containing a galvanized iron bucket or 
tub large enough to hold the probable fluids of 
twenty-four hours ; that is, according to the num- 
ber of horses. No neglect was possible for this 
arrangement since it simply ran over, if not regu- 
larly and daily emptied, either into a sewer, cess- 
pool, or elsewhere ; and its operation was attended 
with excellent results, while the cost, as com- 
pared to the usual systems, was a bagatelle. If this 
is not done, then the washstand and harness-room 

38 



STABLING AND STABLES 

drains should be arranged to flush the stall-gut- 
ters, for carriages, etc., must be washed, and the 
water used will daily effect what careless grooms 
neglect. All details about stables should be ar- 
ranged not as if the best sort of help was to be in 
charge, but so that the worst cannot do harm. 

Stall floors are best made of cement, laid with 
the proper slope, covered with plank or slats so ar- 
ranged as to afford a level footing, bevelled to re- 
quirements upon the under side. The two middle 
planks — or the four middle slats, if these are 
used — should be movable, either by hinges, or 
may be left loose. They can thus be daily swung 
up, and the cement beneath disinfected very easily 
and quickly. All moisture falls on about the 
middle of the stall, and thence it easily percolates 
to the gutter at the heel-posts ; nor is there any 
chance for the accumulation of filth as in the 
ordinary stall. Of course whether planks or 
slats are used, the ordinary separations between 
them will be observed. 

This arrangement is advised, provided earth 
floors cannot be arranged, than which nothing is 
better, cheaper, or more easily renewed. Six inches 
of large stone, six of gravel or ashes, and four to 
six of earth, make an ideal floor, self-draining, 

39 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

comfortable, healthy, and natural to the horse 
and his feet and eyes. 

All hay should be fed from the floor, and no 
hay-racks ever provided. The feed-boxes should 
be movable, whether wood or iron, that they 
may be scoured and sunned to keep them sweet. 
A place should be provided in every stall to set 
a water-bucket. 

Stall partitions should never be solid, at all 
events near the floor. This construction is ab- 
solutely inappropriate to our climate, and it is 
marvellous that neither owners, stablemen, nor 
builders have considered this most essential de- 
tail. If any of them would spend a hot summer's 
night in one of the stalls to which they condemn 
their horses, they would know the reason. An 
inch or two between planks allows air to circulate 
at the bottom of the apartment, and to carry the 
foul odors up and away. The partitions should 
always be of open work, at least above five feet, in 
order that horses may see each other, be sociable, 
eat better, and do better. Imagine the solitary 
confinement of the average equine, staring at a 
blank wall, another behind him, and one on each 
side ! 

If possible the apartment for horses should 
40 



STABLING AND STABLES 

reach clear to the roof of the building, and no 
loft should be imposed ; or if it is, the men's 
rooms should never be over, or so situated that 
they must walk over, the horses, which are entitled 
to undisturbed rest. If anything must be crowded 
and skimped for room and air, let it be the carriages 
and the human, and not the equine occupants. 

Air, air, air ; none of our stables get half enough. 
That builder would do well who would leave an 
aperture of a few inches all around the top of the 
horse apartments, which could not be caulked by 
any ingenuity of stablemen, who superheat and ill- 
ventilate all stables in order that they may them- 
selves be kept warm and enjoy the vitiated air to 
which they are accustomed. Even direct draught 
is better than too little air. Any arrangement for 
ventilation is good, provided there is just twice 
as much of it as the owner and architect have 
agreed to be necessary. A lofty stable ventilates 
itself somehow ; a low one is never really well 
aired, for we must remember that for ten or 
twelve hours of the twenty-four it is shut tight. 
No matter how you get air — only get lots of it. 

Light should never come from directly in front 
or directly behind, but if it must, the glass should 
be white- (or rather gray-) washed. More defec- 

41 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

tive vision is caused by badly and improperly 
lighted stables than from any other cause. Lots 
of light means plenty of windows, and numerous 
windows insure plenty of air, if only by way of 
ill-fitting casements. Windows hinged at the 
bottom prevent direct draught. 

Hay and grain should be stored on the ground 
floor if possible, and if upstairs, over carriages 
and not over horses, being thrown down a chute 
or trap-door at one end, or in the middle of the 
gangway, and thence fed out. If this trap has no 
door provided, it greatly assists the matter of 
ventilation. 

Watering should always be done by buckets. 
Troughs get filthy, and a sick horse will infect a 
whole stable in this way. These drinking buckets 
should never, under any pretext, be used for other 
purposes. 

Harness rooms need good light, and space 
enough to carry things in and out without knock- 
ing other articles off their hooks. Hot water in 
quantity should always be obtainable, and the 
room should be large enough to allow lounging 
space for the men. The owner will find it to his 
interest to make this room attractive to the men, 
unless they have other sitting rooms as in large 

42 



STABLING AND STABLES 

stables. Half the problem of satisfactorily hand- 
ling servants is solved if you make their quarters 
attractive enough to encourage them to stay at 
home and about the premises. 

There is no reason whatever why the internal 
arrangement of any stable should be permanent, 
and all partitions may just as economically be 
movable. If space allows, the restricting of the 
building to one story will prove economical in 
that it will allow very light framing. 

The " bail " as a separation between horses 
presents all the desirable features of cheapness, 
simplicity, airiness, and movability, and has been 
used regularly by the writer with the utmost satis- 
faction. He has kept many hundreds, — yes, 
thousands, — of horses, utter strangers to each 
other generally, and sometimes shod with sharp 
shoes, in these arrangements, and has yet to 
record the first accident. These " bails " expe- 
dite stable work vastly by simplifying the labor 
of bedding down, " mucking out," and " setting 
fair;" they may be instantly removed or swung 
up out of the way, and no horse can get cast in 
them. A "bail" consists simply of two planks, 
or boards (one will answer fairly well), tongued 
and grooved together, and stiffened by two braces 

43 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

on each end. They may be painted, stained, 
brass-mounted, or straw-decorated, and are sus- 
pended at the head by a hook fastening into a 
ring in the wall, and at the heel by a rope, brass 
chain, or pipe-clayed cord, hanging either directly 
from a ring in the ceiling, or running through a 
pulley there which allows hoisting out of the way, 
— a needless provision, since, by merely unhook- 
ing it "fore and aft," it may be put away anywhere. 
Its lower side is about eighteen inches from the 
floor, and its top about four feet, six inches, 
from the same point, and the partitions are 
hung about four feet apart, — although horses 
do well in even three feet, six inches space, so 
elastic is this accommodation from its freedom to 
swing aside. A kicker will abandon his attempts 
at mischief when he finds that his efforts produce 
no other effect than to swing the obstacle gently 
to and fro. 

The animals were tethered by ropes about 
eighteen inches long, spliced into a ring running 
upon a "traveller" which runs up and down the 
wall from about twenty inches above the ground 
surface, to about four feet, six inches ; the free end 
being provided with a hook which snaps into the 
head-stall ring, the regular halter-shank (also pro- 

44 



STABLING AND STABLES 

vided with a strap) being detached and hung over 
the bail-heel ready for use. Thus the horse can 
eat and lie down in comfort, but can neither get 
cast nor assail his neighbor. The divisions should 
not be too wide, or the occupants may stand cross- 
wise of them. All boxes are framed on the 
ground surface, and about eight feet above it by 
scantlings which pin together ; the uprights at 
the corners being mortised at top and bottom, 
and readily slipping into place; the partitions 
(slatted from the ground up) fitting into braces in 
these uprights and being secured by hooks ; the 
doors hanging on pintles fastened in the proper 
uprights, and the front of the box consisting 
wholly of two doors which both swing open and 
allow easy access to it. Everything is light. Two 
men will set one up in twenty minutes, while so 
great is the elasticity that no horse can kick or 
break it down. The writer has eighty-six of these 
boxes, made in 1894, and they are to-day (1902) all 
perfect, although they have been put up and taken 
down dozens of times, and shipped all about by 
freight as well — not one penny having as yet 
been spent in repairs — and they cost complete, 
^5.00 each! Further particulars, specifications, 
etc., are at the service of any one interested. 

45 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

These random notes have nothing of the scien- 
tific and probably less of the interesting to them. 
The writer has constructed and arranged many 
stables, some to hold four hundred horses, and 
has always followed the plans outlined here, and 
always with success. The last things any builder 
need bother himself about in constructing stables, 
are drainage, light, and air, provided he will cast 
science to the winds and simply provide amply 
for the last two details (and then double his allow- 
ance), and arrange the first, so far as the stable 
goes, as recommended here. Genuine disinfec- 
tants are too cheap and plentiful nowadays to 
make it necessary or worth while to scientifically 
arrange drainage which is sure to be neglected. 



46 



chapter IV 

STABLE MANAGEMENT 

THE question of economical stable man- 
agement is a matter that sooner or 
later comes closely home to both the 
heart and the pocket of the amateur 
who invests in horseflesh, and who is, as a rule, 
heavily handicapped by the fact that he is igno- 
rant of proper methods, and of the point where 
wise liberality should cease and true economy 
begin. Primarily, difficulty arises from the fact 
that the first economy the novice practises is 
almost invariably a most unwise one. This is 
an unwillingness to pay first-class men first-class 
wages ; the trying to make a born " hewer of 
wood and drawer of water" successfully fill the 
place of a capable servant ; the putting of a man 
in charge of a stud or stable whose only previous 
" four-in-hand " experience has been gained by 
looking after three cows and a horse ; the in- 
trusting of the family to the steerage of a deck- 

47 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

hand whose experience not improbably, has been 
acquired upon the quarter-deck of a dump-cart ; 
the employment of a groom to "do" horses 
whose most energetic efforts are directed toward 
" doing " his employer. A man will cheerfully 
expend large sums in the purchase of expensive 
horses, carriages, and harness, lease a costly stable, 
and go liberally into other details, but, when the 
matter of employing servants comes up, he begins 
to retrench, and not improbably winds up by 
engaging some incompetent, who has no real 
knowledge of, or fitness for, his business. Forth- 
with, horses go lame and grow thin, paint and 
varnish tarnish, harness grows shabby, and gene- 
ral family complaint and dissatisfaction brings the 
whole outfit ultimately, in a more or less dilapida- 
ted condition, to the auction block, and to the loss 
side of the ledger. Better far a first-class man 
and poor horses, etc., than the best that money 
can buy and an incompetent in charge. The 
good man, who is liberally paid, has his em- 
ployer's interest vitally at heart, and the matter of 
perquisites will receive much less attention from 
him than from the employee, who, knowing his 
own worth, is forced by circumstances to accept a 
wage which is not really a fair return for the 

48 




X 
CL, 



< 



STABLE MANAGEMENT 

ability he possesses. A coachman or stud-groom 
should receive some reward for the economies he 
practises ; should be, in a way, sharer in the 
results of any retrenchment which, while main- 
taining the efficiency of the service, he is able to 
effect. 

An employer may well say to such a man, " I 
am prepared to spend so much per month per 
horse for feed, so much for repairs, so much for 
fresh horses, etc. Upon any diminution of 
these expenses which you are able to effect still 
affording me the first-class service I require, I 
am ready to pay you a certain percentage " 
(twenty-five per cent or fifty per cent, according 
to circumstances). " If, however, your manage- 
ment causes this outlay, which I find from in- 
quiry is reasonable, to be exceeded, you must 
go." If, in addition to this, the head man is 
always allowed to engage his own subordinates, 
which promotes harmony and general efficiency, 
it will be found that he is quite certain to work 
with an eye single to his employer's interests. 

Upon the invariably usable condition of one's 
horses depends the satisfaction in keeping them, 
and many of our current stable methods are cal- 
culated to rejoice the heart of horse dealer and 
4 49 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

veterinarian alike. We have adopted wholesale, 
the systems prevalent in England with but little 
inquiry into their necessity or appropriateness 
to this country and climate, and have accepted 
the dictum of ignorant and non-practical men 
without comment or personal experiment, making 
our animals fit the treatment instead of suiting 
the methods to them. It is really astounding 
that intelligent and wide-awake men will gravely 
consult an employee in such matters and be ex- 
actly guided by his opinion, when in their own 
business affairs they neither request nor accept 
the advice of their subordinates — men frequently 
really able to competently advise. If John says a 
horse needs physic, forthwith he gets it ; if James 
— who does n't know a splint from a spavin — con- 
demns a horse as unsound, so it must be ; if 
Charles decides that the horses had better not 
go out, they generally stay in. One docs not 
consult the cook about the china, or the maid 
about the linen — where does the other servant 
come in that he must necessarily be an authority ? 
In the first place we keep our horses too warm, 
stables too close, and use clothing too heavy. The 
race-horse people have the right idea about this 
matter, and one never sees more healthy, bloom- 

50 



STABLE MANAGEMENT 

ing coats on any horses. Their charges are kept 
stripped in all weathers, and, provided a horse is 
thoroughly cooled out, externally and internally, 
everything is left open on him, and the $30,000 
stake horse thrives under an exposure that would 
put most of our coddled harness-horses in the 
bone-yard inside of twenty-four hours. A horse 
well fed and healthy will stand a vast amount of 
exposure, and will be all the better for it. Blankets 
as generally used are a delusion and a snare. "A 
full grain-bin is the best body-brush," and ex- 
perimentwill prove that medicine-chest and doctor's 
bills are quite unnecessary if the horse is habitu- 
ated to an exposure as stimulating as it is sanitary, 
— one which may keep a stableman moving to 
keep warm, but the more useful perhaps on that 
account. Open up the stables, pack away the 
blankets, and realize that a horse is healthy in 
proportion as he approaches his natural state, and 
that a hard working horse, as our cabbers and 
other general-purpose animals prove, will thrive 
under an amount of exposure that, according to 
popular belief, ought to kill him ofF-hand. 

Our accepted idea of condition in carriage 
horses is wrong, anyway, and our eye has been 
accustomed, by the over-fattened condition of 

5^ 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

show and sale horses, to accept a wholly false idea 
of fitness for actual use. What we call suitable 
" condition " is generally secured by the presence 
of soft and useless flesh, clogging to the vital as 
hampering to the external parts, and ready to 
produce and augment a feverish condition at any 
slight over-exertion, or sudden change of temper- 
ature. Private stablemen do not know how to 
" cool out " a horse properly, or if they do, don't 
take the trouble. External coolness is not enough 
for safety. Heart and circulation must be regu- 
lar and tranquil, and the temperature throughout 
normal, before the animal can be safely put away. 
This insured, one can disregard open windows, 
draughts, and anything else. 

Odd as it may sound, many stablemen overdo 
the grooming act, and beat and hammer a nervous 
horse with wisp and cloth until he is sore all over, 
and ready to go mad if you rasp a brush with a 
currycomb. This slam-bang business is all wrong, 
and will not do for the modern, thin-skinned, ner- 
vous creature, which is replacing the old dung-hill 
that would enjoy combing over with a garden 
rake. Make your horse's toilet as you make 
your own : plenty of water and plenty of fric- 
tion ; but as you carefully dry yourself, so dry 

52 



STABLE MANAGEMENT 

him, not by brute strength, but with soft towels 
or rub-cloths which absorb as they shampoo. 
When a horse comes in wet, tired, and dirty, 
don't allow him to be dressed and hissed at for 
hours. Would you like to come in from a long 
walk and be fussed around for an hour after ? 
Scrape him, straighten his hair, roll thick band- 
ages on legs, either after washing or over the 
dirt ; cover him up warm to let him steam out, 
and leave him. When dry, simply remove band- 
ages, take off blankets, and let alone until next 
morning. Never be afraid to wash a horse, legs, 
body and all ; what is there about soap and 
water that is poison to him, and good for you ? 
But dry him thoroughly from ear to toe as you 
would yourself, and never fear scratches, colds, 
nor other ill-results. 

Oats, hay and bran ; hay, bran and oats ; the 
poor equine in the average stable hardly knows 
the taste of any other food ; while condiments of 
all sorts are regarded with holy horror by the 
master, and used secretly, if at all, by the man. 
Vary the food daily if possible, each meal if you 
can. There are lots of excellent materials which 
are disregarded, and which afford a most whole- 
some change. Slightly damaged grain can be 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

cheaply procured, cooked or steamed, and com- 
bined in varying quantities and flavors. Stale 
bread and cake can often be bought of the bakeries 
at very low prices per barrel. Numberless food- 
stuffs are perfectly appropriate for equine use ; 
sugar, molasses, salt, etc., dissolved and sprinkled 
on hay, etc., will insure the greedy consumption 
of even the poorer qualities. Don't think horses 
must always have choicest Timothy hay, best oats,, 
etc., for other grades properly treated are just as 
appetizing, wholesome, and nourishing. You 've 
eaten hash yourself; if you take such chances 
and do well, why not your animals ? 

The watering question is another " bugaboo." 
Why cannot a horse even after active exertion, 
provided heart action and circulation have reached 
the normal point, have all the water he wants, if 
its temperature is nearly that of the body ? Of 
course he can. Don't you drink ice-water your- 
self when hot ? and if the fool-killer does n't get 
you there and then, what harm is coming to him 
if he swallows a few quarts of tepid fluid ? If 
water is always left where horses can get at it, 
they will never over-indulge, and, somehow, this 
should always be arranged. You are not always 
thirsty at six, twelve, and six o'clock yourself, yet 

54 



STABLE MANAGEMENT 

very much in need of refreshment at odd times, 
and your horse has the same desires. In fact, if 
there is one hour in the day when an animal 
really needs water — and never gets it — it is 
about ten o 'clock at night, when he has consumed 
and digested an immense amount of dry prov- 
ender, and when nature demands that he flush 
his system copiously. It is astonishing what a 
difference attention to this most important detail 
will make in the condition of horses. Individual 
preference must be carefully considered also. 
Many are night feeders and will only eat heartily 
at that time. Many shy "doers" require their 
food in small quantities and at frequent periods ; 
some do better if they see plainly in every direc- 
tion and enjoy the association of their stable- 
mates; other misanthropes prefer seclusion. If a 
horse is a bad feeder he will generally drink pretty 
well, and his nourishment may be given him in 
liquid form. No animal will take on flesh or 
hold it well unless he is a good and deep drinker, 
and this most important characteristic of the 
easily fattened steer is equally essential in the 
horse. 

In shoeing we have vastly improved these 
latter days, and all honor to the craft which so 

55 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

speedily recognized and accepted modern methods. 
Just at present the fad runs to a long toe in front 
because certain show horses which had a tendency 
to " mix " needed such balancing to square them 
away, and to attain the high action sought. For 
use, however, such methods are to be condemned, 
and no one can imagine how much this system 
has to do with the premature disablement of 
numbers of our fast trotters and high-stepping 
horses. Weight in heel or toe according to need 
will improve a horse's high stepping, but, for 
every-day work, an ordinary light shoe is all that 
should be used, and it must be remembered that 
the heavy shoes are never kept upon show horses 
for more than a few days, or they lose all their 
effect. The rubber pads, now in such general 
use, are an excellent thing and almost a necessity, 
but they will often make a horse go sore and 
short, especially those with naturally weak quarters 
and heels, while some few, already inclined to go 
"groggy," they will benefit by relieving the con- 
cussion. For country work, tips properly applied 
(mind, properly applied) all round are as good a 
protection as can be used, but one must not 
expect to find them immediately successful upon 
an animal whose feet have for years been accus- 

56 



STABLE MANAGEMENT 

tomed to protection, any more than one can com- 
fortably go barefoot until Nature has adapted 
herself to the change. There is far too much 
stuffing of feet and smearing them with oil and 
blacking externally. A wet sponge confined in 
the foot by a bit of steel or a stick is better than 
any packing, which a wet swab tied around the 
coronets will assist ; while for dressing, a wipe 
with a damp sponge will insure a better appear- 
ance than an application of blacking, which 
will be covered with dirt before your equipage 
gets around to the front door. A horse's foot is 
provided with pores as is your own, and if these 
are clogged with grease, etc., local health cannot 
obtain for long. 

Pages can be written upon the most unimpor- 
tant of these details, and it is only possible to 
touch upon a very few of them within the 
boundaries allowed. So important are they 
to the enjoyable and profitable use of horse- 
flesh that the amateur will be well repaid if he 
will begin to experiment for himself, and to real- 
ize how exactly the hygiene, accepted as sen- 
sible for the biped, applies to the needs of the 
quadruped. 

Taking one day with another, and averaging 

57 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the periods of expensive and of cheap feed, the 
cost of feeding and bedding a horse will reach 
about twenty-five cents per day, if the best of 
everything is bought ; if lower grades, and the 
various materials recommended are purchased, 
the cost may well run down to fifteen cents, 
though this would hardly be possible, without 
buying at wholesale. Large quantities of grain, 
etc., should not be stored for too long a time 
in closed bins, or it will heat, and be damaged. 
Foods are best (if mixed) prepared not over 
six or eight hours before feeding lest they 
sour. 

About twenty-five minutes will suffice if the 
man is active, and has everything handily ar- 
ranged, to thoroughly clean any horse, and there 
is no occasion for him to kill time over the job 
unnecessarily. The time requisite to cooling out, 
and putting away after work, varies with the ani- 
mal's condition on arrival. The ordinary carriage, 
given the usual accessories of hose, ample water 
supply, etc., should be washed in the same time, 
a buggy or runabout in about fifteen minutes. 
The ordinary single harness will need twenty 
minutes of attention, aside from its steels, and 
metal work, which will require time in comparison 

58 



STABLE MANAGEMENT 

with their condition and amount. All necessaries 
in the way of sponges, chamois, " compo," 
soap, polish, etc., should be bought in quantity, 
and issued as needed, as such economies all 
count. 



59 




chapter V 

CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 

ATISFACTORY working condition, that 
bodily fulness of outline which not im- 
properly may also be associated with hard- 
ness of flesh and fineness of muscle is, 
given ordinary attention to the usually unconsidered 
trifles, and genuine interest in the welfare of one's 
dumb beasts, neither difficult to attain, nor to 
maintain. All horses in work should, as denoted 
by coat and countenance, be constantly in the 
bloom of health, and as evidenced by action and 
appetite in the flush of vigor ; nor is there any 
excuse, in private stables at least, for their exhib- 
iting other appearance. Be your man ever so 
highly recommended, or ever so affectionately 
regarded by yourself and family, any appearance 
of dulness of courage or roughness of coats 
among his charges is proof positive that he does 
not know his business, and, if he is allowed full 
swing in stable management, no excuses should 

60 



CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 

be accepted ; if he is not, and you look after 
things yourself, better far, for your own credit, to 
resign in his favor, or to find some one able to 
supplant you both, for the ability of the horse is 
largely dependable upon his treatment, and he, 
at least, will of a certainty "do as he is done by." 

Given a hearty feeder and one who is regularly 
worked and exercised, his care resolves itself 
chiefly into the matter of feeding and grooming; 
but there is a vast army of the other kinds, 
excellent in all respects, but wanting in little 
details, that nursing and coddling over, which, to 
the detriment of their appearance and of their 
reputation, they seldom get. 

The average horse is not fed or watered often 
enough, early enough, or late enough. With his 
small stomach and voluminous intestinal arrange- 
ment little and often is the necessary and whole- 
some rule, and the long hours of the winter's 
night are made doubly irksome by the fact that 
after a certain period the poor animal is both 
hungry and thirsty ; nor will the provision of a 
large feed of hay and grain obviate the trouble, 
because his own breath and the usual stable 
excretions render the provender unpalatable long 
before appetite has prompted its consumption, 

6i 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

while the greedy feeder will gorge himself with a 
mass which his digestive apparatus is wholly un- 
able to handle. The man who will invent an 
automatic feeder that shall expose extra feeds at 
certain hours will meet a vital want ; but, failing 
this, the man who feeds at say six and ten in the 
morning, and two, six and ten in the afternoon, 
the usual daily amounts, subdivided to meet the 
occasions, will find his sure reward in the im- 
mediately bettered condition of his horses, and 
in the fact that they are ready, at any time, to 
use. Especially must the thin animal have his 
meals often ; in concentrated form, and small in 
quantity. No satisfactory progress can be expected 
if allowance is not made for the weakened con- 
dition of the subject's digestive apparatus, which 
is the prime cause of his failure to do well. 

Exercise of course has its necessary place in the 
attainment of satisfactory condition, and herein 
we all err on the side of insufficiency. Not one 
horse in twenty in private stables is used enough 
to keep him really healthy. If the pair go down 
town on a shopping tour they must do no more 
that day ; if our saddle horses get an hour in the 
park or riding school every day they are in luck. 
Any horse in work, can do and should do his ten 

62 



CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 

miles a day, and that at a smart pace, not jogging 
along at huckster's trot, but roading fast and 
promptly. 

So far as stable management goes, its depart- 
ments of menu and massage are of first impor- 
tance. To simply gallop a race horse is by no 
means to train him. As one taciturn yet won- 
derfully successful trainer replied to the question 
as to where he worked his horses, " In my 
stable." And that is three-fourths of the whole 
matter. As to ventilation there cannot be too 
much, draughts being prevented as much as pos- 
sible ; nor should there ever be noticeable the 
slightest trace of ammonia. Disinfectants that 
really disinfect — not simply cause one stench in 
order to smother another — are too plentiful to 
allow for any such evidence of neglect, whether 
the stable shelters one horse or one thousand ; 
and air may be plentiful, yet foul, or limited, yet 
fresh. Get all the ozone you can manage, and 
then try your best to get a little more. 

As we carefully cleanse the lungs by proper 
ventilation, so we must attend to the " external 
breathing apparatus," so to speak — the pores of 
the skin — by regular and thorough grooming, 
by frequent washing, and by clipping the hair, if 

63 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the animal is to work in winter, and is heavy 
coated. That washing should be advised is con- 
trary to general practise, but that has no bearing 
on its practical advantage. A cold bath and 
shower, followed by a quick scrape and rub-out 
(alcohol shampoo to follow, if desired), is as in- 
vigorating to your horse as to yourself, and just 
as healthful. Moreover, the recipient is left 
absolutely clean, as he should always be and 
seldom is. There need be, and should be, no 
more " horsey " smell to your steed and his 
clothing than to yourself Clean clothing is a 
luxury to him as to you, and you had far better 
be untidy than to have him appear so. A lazy 
groom can so smear a horse over with damp 
sponge and rub-cloth that he shall look fairly 
well to the eye ; but if you know that he receives 
a bath daily, or thrice weekly, he will come very 
near being sweet and savory all the time. 

If the lungs and skin are regularly well cleansed 
the highroad to health will be in sight, and it but 
remains to see that the digestive organs are 
properly nourished and regularly flushed to at- 
tain the goal of perfect physical condition. So 
far as nutriment goes, hay is, of course, the staple, 
and furnishes in addition the bulk which is needed 

64 



CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 

in the stomach to insure perfect digestion. The 
popular demand is all for a coarse and clear Tim- 
othy hay, woody in fibre, and not freely digest- 
ible ; but why this should be the case, at least for 
general purposes, will ever remain a mystery. Of 
course, horses in fast work and highly grain-fed 
get but little hay (although the more advanced 
trainers have modified this) ; but the average 
beast may have all he wants, and the finer grasses 
(and clovers) early cut and nicely cured are 
cheap, wholesome, preferable, and rarely used. 
One hears much of the celebrated " blue grass " 
of Kentucky, but finds it simply the "June 
grass" of all northern localities; while the stock- 
barns ofthat State, thoroughbred and trotting estab- 
lishments alike, are filled solid to the roofs with 
clover hay, and that is what grows and nourishes 
every celebrated race-horse that upholds the fame 
of the " blue-grass region." Such fodder may be 
a little dusty, but it is easily sprinkled, and no 
horse keeper need fear to outrage tradition and 
feed the finer grades of this material with great 
economy and much satisfaction. Oats, as the 
staff of equine life, should form the basis of the 
general ration. But corn-on-the-ear, no other 
way, is a most satisfactory adjunct for eight 
5 6j 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

months in the year, and a breakfast of ten to 
fifteen ears of a cold morning is as grateful as 
you find a Yarmouth bloater now and then. 
There is a strong prejudice against corn, but 
it is a mistaken objection, provided ear-corn, 
rather than the shelled or the cracked, be gener- 
ally fed. Bran in its various grades, according to 
the animal's characteristics, is a most useful and 
generally cheap food, and mixed with cheap oats 
and cooked (by pouring on boiling water, and 
covering for a few hours) may well be used 
for feeding as a warm evening meal, well salted, 
on, say, Saturday nights. All the other grains 
may be usefully and profitably fed in the same 
way as well as brewers' grains, stale bread, etc., 
experiment determining the needs of the indi- 
vidual. Cut feed is an excellent provender in 
theory, and in practice if carefully managed, but 
its steady use has caused many a death, and made 
many a hopeless dyspeptic. The difficulty is to 
keep the stomach sweet, especially with greedy 
feeders, who will bolt their provender. To use it 
safely a mixture of equal parts of powdered ginger, 
gentian, and bi-carbonate of soda should be kept, 
and a tablespoonful mixed with at least one feed 
daily. Flaxseed jelly, made by pouring boiling 

66 



CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 

water on the whole seed and letting it "jell," is a 
most valuable feeding adjunct, and as wholesome 
as it is appetizing. A half-pint at a feed will 
work wonders in a horse's appearance, or it may 
be given as a drink, or as a drench. Linseed 
meal has, under modern processes, little feeding 
value, as all the oil is extracted by pressure and 
by chemicals. 

While the hearty and hardy equine is the most 
eagerly sought and most easily cared for, there 
are numbers of high-strung, nervous and " crotch- 
ety " individuals, who, properly handled, will out- 
work and out-last their more phlegmatic confreres. 
For these certain methods must be tried, and 
various means applied to soothe the nervous 
temper, coax and stimulate the generally wayward 
appetite. A real "shy doer" is a fascinating 
study, just as is a brilliant cripple. " If I can 
only get him right, he's a wonder," we have all 
soliloquized many a time ! Your shy feeders 
will always drink if they won't eat, or they can 
be made to drink, thus disproving the adage that 
the " devil may lead a horse to water, but he 
cannot make him drink." You can drench him 
with the essence of say eight pounds of hay three 
times a day, with the addition of a half-pint of 

67 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

flaxseed jelly each time (that is, if he won't 
drink it, which he generally will). Skim milk 
can be bought very cheap, and with flaxseed 
(or with that and "hay tea") affords excellent 
nourishment. Molasses also, the old-time black 
kind, is a grand appetizer ; may be diluted and 
sprinkled on hay, etc., or fed clear, and a pair of 
very old horses were, to the writer's knowledge, 
kept for a long time on clear molasses, and a little 
hay, which they mumbled over and rejected after 
extracting the juice. Apples, carrots, etc., all 
kinds of flavoring materials, may be cheaply pro- 
cured and appropriately used, so that there is no 
excuse for any man to say that he cannot keep 
his animal in condition, unless his horse has 
some grave physical ailment. 

Physic — purgative — is rarely or never needed, 
especially if the subject is well salted, either in his 
Saturday night feed, or by the provision of Glau- 
ber salts, or rock-salt, at frequent intervals, and by 
the weekly provision of a grass-sod (if obtainable), 
roots, dirt, and all. Very rarely the kidneys need 
slight stimulation, and occasionally the liver gets 
sluggish, but if so, the veterinary had better be 
consulted than to tinker with your horse's inter- 
nals as your own theories or your man's fancies 

68 



CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 

suggest. You take your I5 Waterbury to the 
watchmaker's for cleansing and oiling, — do be 
equally respectful to your $500 equine's main- 
spring. " Carron oil " — linseed oil and lime- 
water — may be given (from a pint to a quart) 
occasionally, and can do no harm, provided the 
recipient is laid by for a day. 

Now we come to a matter that is usually re- 
garded with horror and distrust, — the use of 
arsenic. This drug, properly used, is nothing in 
the world but a strong tonic, and, like all such 
powerful agents, its use must be gradually be- 
gun, briefly continued, and gradually abandoned. 
" Fowler's solution " is a very valuable medicine, 
and in capable hands works excellent results, stimu- 
lates faltering appetite, and generally tones up the 
system. Quinine, another powerful tonic, is also 
wonderfully helpful with hard-working horses, 
and with some it seems to be as useful as the 
dangerous and distrusted arsenic. There are 
more horses (which do not seem to do well) suf- 
fering from genuine malaria than would be be- 
lieved, and especially in the spring is this drug a 
most valuable agent to the maintaining of health, 
appetite, and courage. Do not for a moment 
imagine that the writer is an advocate of the use of 

69 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

stimulants, medicines, etc., for general and regular 
use, for that is not the case ; but there are not a few 
useful and appropriate methods and medicaments 
which we are prone to condemn wholesale because 
we have seen them abused and not used. 

The water and drinking vessels must be of the 
purest. Can you expect a sensitive creature to 
relish drinking from the pail which has just held 
soap, and is contaminated with the other stable 
uses to which it may be put ? or to be other than 
nauseated when the same sponge is used to wash 
his mouth, his legs, and his feet? And can the 
creature relish a mash mixed by hands uncleaned 
from the filth of stable labor ? Or does a sour 
manger under his nose all day, a steaming hay- 
rack beside that, and a reeking straw-bed under 
him, sound like a combination likely to create a 
thirst to be acceptably assuaged only from a 
bucket about which clings the filth of months ? 
No wonder we have some light feeders ! 

Horses should have their hay on the ground 
in front of them. They may waste some, but it 
is generally only that which has become distaste- 
ful to them, anyway, by being breathed upon. 
Besides, hay nowadays is as cheap as rye-straw, 
and no more expensive if used as bedding. Feed- 

70 



CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 

boxes should " take out," and what is more, they 
should be taken out after each meal, washed and 
sunned if possible. If a certain time is allowed 
for the consumption of grain, horses will learn it, 
the light feeders eat as much or more, and not be 
disgusted with a balance steaming under their 
noses. 

On days that no work is to be done, the feed- 
ing must be regulated accordingly ; and if any acci- 
dent, etc., is likely to prevent outdoor work for an 
extended period, a mild dose of physic may be 
given at once to advantage, which, with rather 
laxative food, will prevent any tendency to 
feverish symptoms from its sudden and abso- 
lute cessation. 

There are so many dozens of little details which 
bear directly upon this most important matter 
that one hardly knows how to stop or where to 
begin. Various rarely considered details, such as 
the condemnation of many horses as subjects to 
fits, which suffer from nothing but disordered 
liver and digestion generally; the value of bleed- 
ing in certain cases, where a horse is nervous, shy 
feeding, and generally upset ; the treatment of feet 
and legs with relation to maintenance of health, — 
these and dozens of other matters must be left 

71 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

untouched. The " condition " herein referred 
to means that of the carriage, the hunter, the 
saddle, and the general-purpose horse ; with the 
race-horse and the trotter we have nothing to 
do as yet. 



72 



chapter VI 



THE "GREEN" OR UNACCLIMATED HORSE 
AND HIS CARE 

IT comes to the ill fortune of most of us, at 
some period of our horse-keeping experi- 
ence, to purchase, and be obliged to care 
for, a horse fresh from the country — west 
or east, north or south — to watch for and tend 
him in his acclimation sickness, which is certain 
sooner or later, with varying degree of severity, 
to overtake him, and to subsequently congratulate 
ourselves upon his recovery, or to mourn his 
untimely demise. 

The trouble which we thus call " acclimation 
fever " is rarely other than a more or less severe 
attack of influenza, brought on by the transfer 
from airy country barns, or pastures, to hot and 
ill-ventilated dealers' — or private — stables in 
town or city. In the former case the animal is 
not improbably dosed with drugs to resist the 
approach of the disease, and when removed to the 

13 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

private stable his condition is the more liable to 
make him not only ill, but seriously so. As the 
Esquimaux succumb to the conditions of civiliza- 
tion, as you yourself, after weeks spent in camp- 
ing out and exposure of all sorts, immediately 
become ill with a cold on taking up your usual 
habits of indoor life, so is your horse upset by 
changed air, food, water, and surroundings, while 
probably the mental depression and despondency 
caused by his homesickness for familiar scenes 
play their important part in reaching this result. 

Horses are poor patients, possess but feeble 
resistive powers, and the gamest and most sturdy 
succumb to apparently trifling ailments, which 
would never seriously affect a human being — the 
truth being that not only have they often a ''faint" 
heart, but also a really weak heart, and one 
sometimes failing totally in most extraordinary 
fashion. True it may be, that such cases have 
"kept up" bravely until nature was exhausted, 
and after their disease had advanced further than 
was appreciated — though this is hardly likely. 

Physicians find great difficulty in diagnosing 
cases of the human subject where questions may 
be answered and symptoms explained. How 
much more arduous to successfully locate and 

74 




o 



THE "GREEN" HORSE 

combat illness in an animal which can do neither, 
nor call attention to other complications which 
may exist ! In equine pathology all treatment 
must be speculative, and one can but try and try 
again. Certain evidences insure the presence 
of special troubles, but the serious ailment may 
totally escape notice, as in the cases mentioned 
of apparently weak heart. Privation and fatigue, 
the horse's limitations, insure that he shall but 
feebly resist. 

Nature is the best veterinary, and her indicated 
treatment of rest, and light feeding will result 
favorably five times out of six, and her repairs, 
slowly made, are the more enduring for that 
reason. 

Sooner or later, then, you find your "green" 
horse running at the nose, and possibly the eyes, 
refusing his feed and probably coughing and 
sneezing a little. If you can, forthwith stop his 
grain ; feed him only a little hay (or a mash, 
if his throat is sore, as probable), never more than 
he will eat clean in thirty minutes or so, and all 
remnants cleared away at once ; all the water he 
will drink, with a dose (at once) of powdered nitre, 
or one ounce saltpetre in it to keep his kidneys 
active; clothe him warmly, bandaging his extrem- 

75 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

ities well, and insure fresh air, but no draught ; 
then, leaving him alone until he gets better, it 
will generally be but a few days before he is all 
right again ; nor, beyond a simple febrifuge, and 
a liniment for the sore throat, could the most 
skilled veterinarian do anything further. It is, 
of course, best to send for him when available (as 
he nearly always is) but this is written for those 
who may not care to go to that expense. 

Rigid cleanliness must be enforced, and the 
nose, eyes, etc., as well as the surrounding wood- 
work, gently sponged and cleaned with tepid 
water, for a sick horse is generally rather nasty. 

The head may be steamed if there is much 
accumulation of mucus, and if the throat is very 
sore, but if this is done (hot water and vinegar is 
as good as anything) the head and neck must be 
carefully dried, and protected by a hood, or harm 
may ensue. 

A thermometer is useful if understood, but is 
dangerous in the hands of an amateur, for the 
reason that he will always be "panicky" if he 
uses it. A horse's temperature constantly varies, 
and the odd degree or two of change from normal, 
which may seem to presage fever, has very prob- 
ably no significance. One should experiment 

76 



THE "GREEN" HORSE 

with healthy animals by placing the fingers on 
the bars of the mouth under the tongue, for 
fever is quickly detected here, the temperature 
being about ninety-eight degrees in health. The 
pulse is below the jaw and runs about forty de- 
grees in health, and it is then pliant and full, 
not hard and wiry. The following will be found 
excellent to relieve the cough, etc. : 

Extract of Belladonna y^ ounce 

Powdered Opium 2 drachms 

Powdered Camphor 3 drachms 

Powdered Liquorice 2 ounces 

Molasses y^, pint. 

Mix ; smear tablespoonful on tongue three or four times daily. 

The throat may be smeared — not rubbed, or 
it will blister — with 

Lard I pound 

Turpentine i pint 

Melt lard and mix turpentine. 

When the " pink eye," as it is called from the 
tendency of the eyes to close and be weak (needing 
a darkish stable when this occurs), has passed its 
worst, there is often a dropsical tendency of the 
legs ensuing, or remaining, which may hugely 
swell them, giving them the appearance of having 

77 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

been tied with strings. This will help toward 
cure : 

Iodide of Potassium I ounce 

Carbonate of Ammonia I ounce 

Powdered Gentian i ounce 

Eight balls (or drench if throat is still sore) ; two each day 
for four days. 

Soft food is indicated, but very little of any- 
thing will be eaten. If weakness continues, the 
strength may be maintained, and heart stimulated, 
by doses of whiskey and quinine at frequent inter- 
vals ; or this treatment may begin at the first indi- 
cation of disease. 

Soft and easily digested food should be the 
rule for some weeks after recovery, for a latent 
weakness — a sort of low fever — remains and 
any over-exertion may cause a relapse. Exercise 
must gradually increase. 

Of course few or none of these occurrences may 
result. The horse may escape with a trifling 
dulness for a few days that will hardly be notice- 
able, and not even affect his ability for light work. 

If this fresh or "green " horse is put directly 
to gentle, steady work, whereby he gets regularly 
into the open air ; if he is neither over-heated, nor 
allowed to chill when warm ; if kidneys and bowels 

78 



THE "GREEN" HORSE 

are kept active, that feverish tendencies may be 
corrected ; if, in short, he is used just like any- 
other horse, only not quite so hard, he will have 
little trouble, as proved by the thousands of 
express, car, and cab horses, which are always put 
at work, and, keeping on, are rarely sick. 

We kill more horses by mistaken kindness 
than we do by abuse. Your " green " horse tells 
you (or your man) that he feels " dumpish," by 
refusing his feed, or not eating up as he should. 
Forthwith your energies are directed to tempting 
him to eat not only as much as usual, but even 
more, and his slightly feverish system is loaded up 
with all sorts of stimulating stuff. As he seems 
not quite himself, you decide he is best in the 
stable for a few days, and there he stops, to eat, 
to grow very ill, and possibly to die, a victim to 
your inexcusable ignorance, for it is that. You 
have no business to own him if you will not 
spare a few hours to inform yourself by reading 
or by questions as to his care and needs. 

Had you been advised by him, and kept the 
food away until he asked for it, or even had you 
used him and got him into the air, the chances 
are that three or four days would have seen him 
all right again. Use him, therefore, even if his 

79 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

soft flesh shrinks ; he will take no harm, and 
quickly build up again ; nor spare him just 
because he is " the new horse," and therefore to 
be treated with the care accorded new furniture 
or china. You bought him to work, and that it 
is which insures his health and welfare. 

Remember that your country horse will prob- 
ably suffer from homesickness, and try to alleviate 
this by insuring him equine companionship, by 
little attentions and delicacies, etc. As you would, 
in similar circumstances, brood over your condi- 
tion if left in solitary confinement, so will he ; as 
your depression would be increased by over-feed- 
ing and lack of exercise, so is his ; as wholesome 
fatigue insures the kindly oblivion to you of sleep, 
so it will to him. Therefore, use him daily, 
cherish him thoughtfully, treat him rationally, 
and never fear the "bugaboo" of the fatalities 
attending the acclimatizing of the "green" coun- 
try horse. 



80 



Chapter VII 

THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

THERE can be no such thing as a part- 
nership arrangement in the handling of 
any dumb beasts, and he who thinks 
that this is exaggerated, and that 
he and his horse are animated by a single purpose, 
is laying up stores of trouble that will surely lead 
him to ultimate disaster. The fables of the Arab 
and his steed, and the verse or prose of various 
writers who were composing for " the gallery " of 
the general public, make interesting reading; but 
beware how you reduce these lovely theories to 
practice. Any idea that your horse really knows 
you from any one else, or that your touch has 
any special influence over him, should be banished 
from the mind, for it is the merest nonsense. To 
any stranger who uses your tones he will pay as 
much attention as to you ; to any casual whose 
nerve and experience chance to render the hand- 
ling of the reins, etc., similar to that of the accus- 
6 8i 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

tomed hand, he will prove as biddable. " Go 
on" may mean "stop" to him; "Whoa" may- 
produce accelerated speed ; " go away " may make 
him come to you, provided he has been used to 
so construe these commands, — and your actual 
words are immaterial ; the tone and gesture are 
the only mediums effective. 

In " educating " a horse one should carefully 
remember three vitally important facts which 
never change as characteristics, although they 
may vary in degree. First, a horse is a fool, and 
he is a coward. Nature intended that this should 
be the case, in order that his failing should make 
him distrustful ; that this foolish distrust should 
render him timid because of his suspicions; and 
that the combination of these characteristics should 
prompt him, once his fears from whatever trivial 
cause are thoroughly aroused, to use his chief 
means of protection (his speed) in flight. A 
horse will, of course, fight when cornered, as will 
any moral weakling ; but, save for a saucy colt, 
which may now and then run at you, or an occa- 
sional stallion which has been made savage by 
solitary confinement and improper handling, 
there is no such thing as any attempt to seek an 
encounter with man, whose scent is disagreeable 

82 




w 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

to the animal, and whose presence is distasteful, 
until it is found that from him come certain ad- 
vantages in the way of care and food. Second, 
the horse is an animal of one idea, and cannot be 
expected to consider two or more matters intelli- 
gently at one and the same time. This is, of 
course, a part of the universal characteristics just 
mentioned, and an essential portion, for it prompts 
the one idea of terror of any strange object or 
action ; the one idea of flight over or through all 
obstacles. Through fire and flame he returns to 
his blazing stall with the one idea of seeking the 
sanctuary which has always proved to him the 
safe and secure haven. Do not consider that 
these statements are intended to in any way vilify 
the animal, but let us try to realize distinctly his 
mental limitations, and be governed by them in 
our treatment of him. Nothing but his foolish- 
ness allows man to so successfully hoodwink him 
as to his powerlessness to evade the labor which 
he does not enjoy, and to obtain from him the 
services which he does not delight to render, but 
which he imagines he cannot escape. 

As to the " education " of a horse, much de- 
pends, of course, upon what will satisfy the owner : 
whether the " three royal R's " are enough, or 

83 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

whether the full collegiate course must be com- 
pleted. He who is content that his children shall, 
as he himself did, stop short at the merest rudi- 
ments, will pooh pooh the higher branches; he 
who believes that a horse is merely a beast which 
turns either way if the steersman pull hard 
enough, or stops if he pull more strongly, will 
ridicule the idea of any further development ; yet 
may, if he choose, and has ordinary patience and 
intelligence, convert his equine into a patent 
safety conveyance under almost any circumstances. 
The public are greatly to blame, that, through 
mistaken economy, they will not make this " edu- 
cation " possible to the producer and the pur- 
veyor. The qualities of fearlessness, etc., are 
obtained by simply accustoming a horse to every- 
thing; and this takes time and money. If you, as 
a buyer, will not pay the extra price the acquire- 
ment of these accomplishments has cost, a dealer 
will have certainly no intention of spending any 
more time in such efforts upon his merchandise 
than will make them way-wise enough to pass 
muster, and the fault is yours, and yours only, if 
trustworthy horses are not easily obtainable. In- 
stead of a properly educated steed at I500 or 
more, you will persist in buying one you know is 

84 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

raw and green for ^150; and the woe you thus 
persistently court be upon your own head. 

A horse may be taught to do anything possible 
to any creature so formed, and to be fearless of 
everything on earth, if he is accustomed to see 
and hear all sights and sounds ; and the fault In 
training all colts and horses is that we seek the 
quietest country locations, and most secluded 
roads and fields for such purposes, and then have 
to begin all over again when city life ensues. We 
take the greatest care in harnessing the raw colt 
that no loose straps hang about; that the gig does 
not rattle, etc., yet he fears the dangling leather 
(or chains, even) no more than the ordinary har- 
ness ; the clattering vehicle than the noiseless. 
He will pull the wagon by his tail, and hold it 
back by his unprotected quarters, thighs and 
hocks, if you educate him to do it. An ideal 
school for equines would contain pile-drivers, 
thrashing machines, steam-drills, blowing paper, 
electric and elevated cars, etc., in quantity ; while 
a band of music, a company of artillery, and a 
gang of quarrymen blasting rocks, would prove 
useful accessories. Timid and foolish, the horse 
does not discriminate, and notices nothing fam- 
iliar, nearly everything strange ; your artillery 

85 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

wheel-horse which stands drowsily while cannons 
fire in his face, has a convulsion at sight of a 
fluttering apron. 

As the ideal school is a medley of hideous sights 
and sounds, so the ideal schoolmaster is dumb. 
He who never speaks to a horse does well ; he 
whose vocabulary is absolutely limited to "whoa " 
and " c'lk " is fortunate. These words should be 
construed by your pupil as always meaning but 
two things — instant and motionless stop in the 
first case, and accelerated progress, to be regulated 
by the feeling of the hand upon the reins, in the 
other. Your voice alone, even in its kindest 
tones, causes apprehension in the narrow-gauge 
mind of the raw colt or wild horse, and he 
is prevented by his natural limitations from 
calmly comprehending the two details of speech 
and action upon your part. Your actions he 
finally appreciates through their personal effect; 
and in the same way the tones accompanying 
certain motions are finally accepted as signals. 
Pray do not — O dear reader do not — enroll 
yourself among that band of chirping and chir- 
ruping dickey-birds who, with their incessant 
"P-weep-p-p" and the "c'lk, c'lk, c'lk," make 
themselves a menace to others, and render them- 

86 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

selves a spectacle to the general public by their 
vocal gymnastics. The man who is eternally 
" Steady, old man," or " P-weep-p-p "-ing to 
his horse is an infernal nuisance, and a menace 
to every one within hearing. This wretched habit 
causes you to spoil your own horse and to 
needlessly irritate those of others ; you have no 
possible right to persist in it, and some day it will 
be interdicted, at least in park-ways and bridle- 
paths, by strict regulations. 

If now your horse also comprehends the com- 
mand " Back," he is indeed well equipped to prove 
to you a thoroughly safe and satisfactory means of 
transport, and to provide for you all the delights 
to be so liberally gained from such outings. 
Naturally horses vary greatly in their receptive 
powers, and their intelligence is not always to be 
gauged in the same notch. Every acquisition of 
an accomplishment, every instance of implicit 
obedience, renders much easier further advance in 
the direction of higher education. Not only are 
the body and muscles thus coerced, but obedience 
follows more instantly as the futility of resistance 
is understood, and there is practically no limita- 
tion to the lengths to which this instruction may 
proceed, allowing that the subject is not physically 

87 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

deformed, and that only feats possible to him are 
attempted. 

You are greatly to blame, as a breeder or trainer, 
if you do not teach your pupils to walk fast, and 
to move actively at all paces ; you are equally 
culpable, as an owner and consumer, if you do not 
improve your steed's abilities in this direction to 
the best of his powers. Remember that this pace 
is, to the average horse, the only one susceptible of 
improvement^ and yet the gait upon which we 
rarely attempt to work any betterment. Of course 
the trotter or the race horse will gain increased 
speed at their fastest paces through teaching, but 
the average horse has his abilities at the trot and 
gallop very accurately measured out to him at 
birth, while his walk is what his trainer chooses 
to make it. No horse is so regularly overdriven 
and abused as the slow and dawdling walker, 
none so appreciated as the free and active mover 
at this gait. Your saddle or harness horse may 
be greatly helped if you will but persistently try 
to educate him. 

Punishment must enter into the education of a 
horse, and usually the quarrel which compels it 
brews without a helping hand from you. No 
animal is safe until he has been conquered in a 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

discussion of this kind, and made to know that he 
must obey, or physical pain to himself may follow. 
Arguments are naturally useless, and no such 
thing as mutual alliance or concession is possible; 
nor must he for an instant imagine that he is the 
superior ; you must be the boss and there must 
be no possible misunderstanding about it. If you 
have to punish, the sharp and sudden is the most 
genuinely kind method ; but the subject must be 
allowed every opportunity to understand clearly 
the reason for the discipline, and the punishment 
itself must promptly follow the fault. It is true 
that if you punish only for reasons that satisfy 
yourself, it is strange how seldom you will inflict 
such discipline at all ; but even so the time always 
comes when the recalcitrant must learn who is his 
master. Punishment by no means always means 
whipping or spurring, there are other methods, and 
the " punishment must fit the crime," as " The 
Mikado " says. 

Ninety times in the hundred we punish at 
the wrong time, and in the heat of passion. 
Remember that if a horse is beaten for shying, 
his narrow intelligence will always associate the 
two events, and he will so confuse cause and effect 
as to imagine that an encounter with a piece of 

89 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

blowing paper, for instance, is synonymous with a 
sound thrashing and a badly hurt mouth. There- 
fore when next he meets this disconcerting object 
he proceeds to turn round, to upset the buggy, 
and to escape at all hazard from the vicinity of the 
object which has been to him accompanied by 
much physical distress. Remember that if he is 
troubled by this so-called vice — which it never 
is — his J one-idead mind is perhaps to blame ; 
or his eyes may be wrong (he may be as near- 
sighted as any of us) ; or the alarming sights may 
be strange to him, needing only thorough famil- 
iarizing to be disregarded ; or perhaps he may 
be playing the fool from sheer light-heartedness, 
and if so, to be circumvented by taking him 
sharply in hand, " shaking him up," and pulling 
him together as the awesome spectacle is passed. 
Fear of any particular object is almost invari- 
ably a token that at some previous time, and m 
some other hands, serious fright or injury has been 
associated with it, and if this seems to be the case 
the utmost patience is called for in your treat- 
ment of the timid, apprehensive creature. 

While you must punish at times, and teach 
the pupil that this will invariably follow wilful 
rebellion, your caresses must as regularly, and even 

90 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

more promptly, follow competent performance. 
As cannot be too often repeated, however, these 
must apply directly to the part involved, and not 
to other portions of the body, which, while they 
may also have been concerned in the action, are 
not so actively implicated. If your Uncle John 
lends you ten dollars, you do not return it to 
Cousin Henry, and in the very same way if 
your hunter jumps a fence, do not pat his neck, 
but the hind quarters which he so ably em- 
ployed ; if he bends his neck and carries himself 
as your hand directs, do not caress his shoulders. 
Indiscriminate petting is worse than none at all, 
and extremely confusing, while that which is 
prompt and appropriate is the kernel of the nut, 
the gist of the whole matter. The old books on 
equestrianism were, in a way, insistent upon such 
points, and while they were not strong upon the 
" caress " clause, they came out brilliantly upon 
the punishment part of it — and that directly to 
the rebellious members, as instanced by the 
advice " to cure a balky horse " by tying a tom- 
cat to a pole and shoving it between the hind 
legs to scratch and bite, winding up with the 
prophecy, " And thus doing, doubt not that he 
will go forward." 

91 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

The rubbing of the forehead over the brain 
is always gratifying to the animal, and doubly 
so when he has obeyed ; while the application 
of the hand, or a light switch to the ears, when 
rebellious has always proved especially effective 
in obtaining obedience very quickly. Baucher, 
the celebrated French equestrian, must be given 
the credit for first discovering and intelligently 
applying these principles of direct punishment 
and reward, and while his pupils have tried vainly 
to apply his teachings, their failures are not due 
to error upon his part, or to mistakes in his 
deductions, but to inability to carry out his teach- 
ings, or, indeed, to unravel from the skein of 
verbiage in which they are enmeshed the practical 
fragments of his method. 

Remember, as the Irishman said, that your 
pupil " has a mouth on him," and a most appre- 
ciative palate behind that, and do not forget that 
various tid-bits, as apples, carrots, sugar, etc., 
are as grateful to the inner quadruped as are 
caresses to the outer. Of course you will always 
be provided with such morsels if you are, " 'round 
and about " horses to any extent, and equally of 
course you will not, if you are wise, hand them out 
indiscriminately, but reserve them for the mo- 

92 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

ments when they may make the most vivid im- 
pression, and "tip" him with them as judiciously 
as were your superiors moved to reward you, in 
boyhood's days, when various delicacies were 
yours if — always if — you did or did not thus 
and so. 

Exhaustive and tedious rehearsals taught you 
your letters, and no effort was ever made to have 
you read before you could spell. A horse's 
education should follow the same lines. About 
the first lesson kindergarten taught you was that 
you had to obey, and even as the traits of disobedi- 
ence and disorder became more and more con- 
firmed if not combated, so the habit of submission 
might be developed to any length — so far that 
even man, a reasoning and intelligent being, should 
have no active and aggressive mind of his own. 
This same habit of non-resistance may be developed 
in the horse to a remarkable extent, and not too 
early can the initiative in this respect be taken, 
nor too sternly can it be enforced. 

Good manners in the subject who has never 
been thoroughly " bested " — allowed to attempt 
revolt and met only with summary defeat — are 
but the merest shell, which, like the "shedder" 
crab, he is likely to cast aside without a moment's 

93 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

notice. His good behavior has been due to 
laziness or indifference, or he has not been, through 
fortunate environment, really alarmed. Some day, 
however, something happens to arouse him, and 
then look out, for no memory of previous fruit- 
less rebellion recurs to him, and you will, as you 
pick yourself out of the gutter or off the tree- 
tops wish most earnestly that you had devoted 
a few of the dollars, which must now go toward 
doctor's and wheelwright's bills, to a thorough 
collegiate course for your disappearing steed ! 
The domestic wheels turn more smoothly after 
the first little " spat " or two which really welds 
the diverse natures more closely together ; the 
wheels of your vehicles will be safer from bruise 
and blemish if similar squabbles arise between 
horse and master, but they must have only the 
one result of his defeat. 

You may proceed along these educational lines 
to whatever lengths you fancy, but the average 
man will be well satisfied if the primary school 
stage is passed, and its essentials thoroughly mas- 
tered. The great drawback attending the advanced 
education of all horses is two-fold : firstly the 
public will not pay the prices which such time- 
consuming work makes necessary ; and secondly, 

94 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

after the animal is thus trained, it is not easy to 
find the man who is similarly qualified to use him. 
The rudiments of behavior are therefore sufficient 
for the average owner, and further advance is 
not practical. If the animal knows his A. B. C.'s 
thoroughly, that is a lot more than can be said 
of the majority of them, and we should be grate- 
ful for that. Every accomplishment may be 
taught him " hind-side before " if you like, and 
a pull to the right may mean turn to the left, as 
it does when the "jerk line " of the southern 
four or six mule team is pulled, and thus we see 
most of our equestrians conveying their wishes 
to their saddle-backs, by exactly wrong signals 
which nevertheless these patient creatures have 
learnt to construe as meaning exactly what they 
do not say ! If awkward blundering will effect 
such results, what may not intelligent effort 
attain ? 

That latter-day Juggernaut, the noisy and 
noisome automobile, has, as was the case when 
the bicycle first appeared, excited much appre- 
hension, and caused prophecies that driving and 
riding would shortly become impossible. As 
was the case with the bicycle, however, this " bug- 
aboo " will lose its terrors as it becomes more 

9S 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

common, and thereby horses get used to it. The 
whole country is now so thickly settled, and the 
ordinary traffic along even remote country roads is 
so variegated that horses encounter these machines 
in their " salad days," and long before they come 
to market. No horse ever fears the bicycle to- 
day ; none will notice the " ought-not-to-be's " 
to-morrow, although the intervening period of time 
is trying to nerves and exasperating to tempers. 

Undoubtedly the manufacturers will provide 
schools for equine education, and probably the 
authorities will enact ordinances that horses must 
attend them, for necessary evils must be combated 
along sensible lines, and the machines have as 
much right to the highways as the animals. Any 
friend who owns one of these " contraptions " will 
oblige with rehearsals. Let your horse, led 
in hand, investigate it, smell it, touch it, gratify 
all the senses, and thereby allay terror, while it is 
standing still, then when moving at all speeds 
and from all angles ; feed him in it if possible, 
but simply keep at him until he is used to it, or 
get rid of him. Carry a thick felt blind with 
you when driving, and in narrow roads signal for 
a halt, and blindfold your horse. He will not 
move while the machine passes. Try him with 

96 



THE HORSE'S EDUCATION 

all varieties, — the stenchful, the coughing, the 
snapping, the chug-chugging, the steaming, the 
smoking, the rattling, — they all evince some one 
or all of these enjoyable characteristics, and keep 
rehearsing him until indifferent to them, apologiz- 
ing to him for the inconvenience which the dis- 
eased taste of modern man has forced upon him, 
and never punishing him for manifesting the 
alarm which at times overcomes even you at the 
uproar and confusion which attends the passage 
of these horrors. 

It is impossible, of course, within the limits of 
a book to give ways and means, methods and 
manners, of " educating " the horse to sedately 
perform all the offices which we require of him, 
but the fundamental rules are invariably the same, 
and their results if intelligently applied, are uni- 
versally satisfactory. A certain amount of" horse 
sense " is required, and ordinary nerve and temper ; 
that is all, and every horse which successfully per- 
forms on track or circus ring, park, road, or rid- 
ing school, has learned his lesson on these general 
lines of instruction, which might have been ac- 
quired so much more quickly, painlessly, and 
pleasantly, had reward always been intelligible, 
caress appropriate, and punishment as rare, as 

97 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

prompt and severe upon occasion. Sentiment 
and theory are slender supports in such matters, 
and as you love and care for all dumb animals, so 
see that in their sphere of action they perform 
their tasks as you, their master, direct ; promoting 
thus their truest happiness and best welfare. 



98 



Chapter VIII 

MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

WITHOUT manners of the best, 
neither man nor horse is fit for 
poHte society ; and as the one may- 
be judged by the words which fall 
from his lips, so may the other by the moisture 
which anoints his bars and mouth angles ; for if 
one would keep the horse's mouth alive and sen- 
sitive, beware the period when moisture disap- 
pears, and saliva ceases to be in evidence, — a 
lubrication intended by nature to facilitate in just 
such ways the comfort of the animal. Without 
manners, the biped is reduced to the level of the 
aborigine, the quadruped to that of the wild 
beast, in degree equal to their respective deficien- 
cies in such respects. In view of the constantly 
increasing number of horse shows, it is curious 
that so little attention is paid to these points; or 
that, when these requirements are insisted upon, 
they form an unimportant detail under the cap- 

LofC. 99 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

tion, " mouth and manners also to be considered." 
How refreshing it would be to notice some such 
classification as this : " Mouth and manners about 
ninety per cent ; horses also to be considered," 
and fairly practical as well, for, as every dealer 
knows, and as every buyer will agree, without 
these two essentials in, their best development, no 
horse is trustworthy. 

"To balk " is generally interpreted as a refusal 
to progress, and good old Mr. Webster in his 
lively little work, sets forth that " balky " means 
"apt to turn aside or stop abruptly." Mr. 
Webster is a trifle out on the last definition, 
however, as " stopping abruptly " implies that 
there must previously have existed motion, which, 
alas, is not always within the facts ! No reference 
is made as to direction, and an animal as truly 
balks which refuses to back, or to turn either way 
at the signal of the reins, as the beast which 
objects to go forward. At the Philadelphia show 
a few years ago the judges, asking a coachman to 
back a step away from a puddle of water and 
mud, found he could not perform the feat ; 
further investigation revealing the fact that but 
one entry in the entire class could and would 
" progress backward,'* yet several of them had 

lOO 



MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

previously won as private carriage horses, pre- 
sumably suitable for ladies and children to drive 
behind ! Surely all horse-show exhibits should be 
required to back freely and in a straight line, a 
distance of at least twenty feet, and to stand still, 
when " lined up," without a man to hold them, 
or be instantly disqualified, be their merits ever so 
great. Conditions are published far enough in 
advance for intending exhibitors to familiarize 
themselves with all details, and prepare accord- 
ingly ; and if they will not take the trouble, or 
have not the skill, to mouth and manner their 
entries, let them " take the penalty for their neg- 
lect." It would surely be for the best interests 
of all if severe bitting were restricted, and no horse 
allowed to compete which was apparelled in any- 
thing but a plain elbow, or Liverpool bit, no 
port, and the reins in either the cheek or half- 
cheek, the chain loose and untwisted. We do 
not want to know what an animal can be tortured 
into doing, but to see what he does when left 
comparatively to himself; and too many awards 
have gone to the brutes that have to be " fished," 
jerked, and whipped into the ribbons, and that 
cannot, or will not, go a yard save under strong 
compulsion. Any external evidence of appliances 

TOI 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

for controlling or influencing pace or action is 
promptly penalized ; why punish for the employ- 
ment of what every one can see, and omit investi- 
gation as to concealed means of control which 
may be far more severe and inexcusable ? 

As is well known, many horses go quietly 
single if the breeching is omitted, but strongly 
object when that sometimes necessary portion of 
the equipment is used. Yet, in championship 
classes at least, it would seem that the competitors 
should be put to this and all other conceivable 
fair tests ; for certainly champions should possess 
perfection of manners and mouth, A horse also 
which must be gag-checked until his backbone 
creaks, and he can't close his eyes, is deficient in 
deportment. Our saddle-horse classes are ham- 
pered with such proper requirements to but slight 
extent, and exhibitors employ all sorts of arrange- 
ments to get away with the money if possible. 
Not thirty per cent of their horses will back ; not 
half of them stand still, either mounted or to be 
mounted ; and not one of them is ever required 
to "side-step" freely and instantly, as he must 
do if his rider wishes to open a gate or a door 
from his back, hold it, sidle round it (pirouette), 
and close it again. A saddle-horse is supposed to 

I02 



MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

carry you across country, or anywhere, and gates 
and bar- ways may be present in quantities. Your 
hack need not know how to jump them, but he 
must know how to be handy in the other ways. 

We have gone quite daft upon the subject of 
appointments, which matter not at all to any one 
but the faddist and the "poseur," but never stop 
to consider that an outfit comprising every detail 
that caprice may require or ingenuity construct, 
may be quickly reduced to fragments, and rele- 
gated to a state of " innocuous desuetude," by the 
misdirected energies of an animal which is lacking 
in these two essentials. 

Primarily, and of more importance than the 
layman will allow, it is necessary that your horse's 
" clothes must fit," his harness be just right at alj 
points, his saddle properly fitted to his back, and 
correctly placed, his bit or bits rightly arranged 
in his mouth. Let the master be ever so partic- 
ular as to the set of his own garments, it is a mar- 
vellous fact that he will, month after month, ride 
his hack uncomfortably and improperly capari- 
soned as to saddle and bridle, the former wrongly 
placed, unevenly padded, too narrow and too 
short in seat to properly distribute weight when 
the rider is a heavy man, and the head-piece too 

103 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

narrow in brow-band; too short as to bridoon, 
too narrow as to bit, too severe as to curb-chain, 
too small as to both mouth-pieces. The average 
bridoon bit is generally so tightly drawn up into 
the angles of the mouth that cheeks are wrinkled 
and drawn in against the teeth, so that any motion 
of them tends to bruise and lacerate the inside of 
the cheeks, causing continual pain and discomfort. 
Nine bridoons out of ten are taken up from three 
to six holes too short, and the bridoon thus acts 
upon a part of the mouth which it was never 
meant to touch, and which it must not press upon 
if the best results are expected. An old-fashioned 
"Dexter snaffle" is the best bridoon known, and 
it cannot be too large, while its shape prevents its 
pulling through the mouth (as does the ordinary 
small-ringed wire bridoon). A bridoon dropped 
as low, or lower, than the bit, will effect the best 
results, as experiment proves, as practice confirms, 
and as the most competent authorities advocate. 
As the bridoon is too high generally, so is the bit 
placed too low, and is often not only very narrow, 
but sometimes provided with a port as well. 

While the whole purpose, intention, and indica- 
tions of the two bits are dissimilar, and intended 
rarely to be used at equal tension, most equestrians 

104 



MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

handle them as one rein, and rest their weight 
upon both ahke. It is a miracle, not that the 
horses occasionally turn sulky, and rear and run 
away, but that most of them are so well behaved 
under their uncomfortable accoutrements. Now 
that the " full " bridle — the double-bitted — is in 
such general use, it behooves every one who rides 
to carefully study the effect of the bits ; to ascertain 
by experiment how a horse goes most pleasantly ; 
to purchase larger and easier bits, and to inspect 
the inside of their horses* mouths and consider 
those wonderfully constructed, delicate, and sen- 
sitive membranes upon which these instruments 
must rest. 

As in the case of the saddle-horse, so with the 
heavy harness-horse; we do not use ordinary care 
that his comfort is assured before we ask or expect 
perfect service. We jam a huge " Liverpool " or 
"elbow" bit between his teeth, and before he has 
more than licked it over, proceed to convey to 
him a series of most confusing signals, which he 
has neither time nor preliminary instruction 
enough to understand. In his confusion he 
finally makes a leap or plunge, and, not allowing 
for the action of the bit, or the fact that the 
driver's weight will almost break his jaw-bone, 

105 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

receives a terrific jab on that sensitive membrane, 
and a bruise which either grows more and more 
deep-seated until some bone sloughs away, or, 
continually painful, renders him frantic each time 
he is harnessed. Nor does the mischief end here, 
because he finds that, if he pulls hard enough, 
that infernal chain round his jaw, and that double- 
fisted Indian that is driving him, form a combi- 
nation which will quickly destroy all sensation. 
Of the two evils he chooses the lesser, and another 
confirmed puller is educated. 

Mouth and manners are interdependent, and 
no horse which has a bad mouth can have good 
manners. Heavy hands make bad mouths, and 
so far as equestrianism goes, no man can possibly 
have good hands who has not a strong and secure 
seat, while he may possess a very firm seat and 
the very worst of hands. The interpretation of 
what constitutes " good hands " is generally 
wrong, and half the people who pride themselves 
upon such possessions will be found to be actually 
riding and driving their horses " behind the bit;" 
that is, they do not make their animals go up to 
and face it, but allow the "give and take" proc- 
ess to be all "give." There is more to "hands" 
than mere manipulation. There is the intui- 

io6 



MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

tive perception of what a horse is about to do, 
and the instant frustration and correction of any 
outbreak in just the proper degree, which is so 
much a matter of instinct that it is automatic. 
Therefore, it may be said, be he ever so assiduous 
in practice, no man can ever acquire good hands 
who is not thoroughly sympathetic, and has not 
that indefinable " horse sense " so necessary to 
successful equine manipulation. It is this quality 
that enables some men to get on amicably with 
even the most determined rogues and pullers. No 
special appliances for them, but just the exercise 
of the gifts of sympathetic intelligence which 
nature has granted them. 

With such hands a man handles his horse's 
mouth with a touch that may sometimes seem 
rough, and frequently is. He never yields until 
the horse does, and then gives (rewards his sub- 
mission) like a flash, but only to an almost im- 
perceptible degree very often ; forcing the animal 
up to his bridle by word and whip (or spur if rid- 
ing). A " nagsman " handling a green and raw 
horse may seem, as he " fishes " him along, to be 
rough in his treatment, but, on the contrary, he is 
using consummate skill with beautiful effect, and, 
given a pliant and finished animal, no fingers will 

107 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

be more airy. He is making the creature do 
what is desired to the best possible advantage, 
and that is " hands " in its best development, be 
methods approved or condemned. He combats 
each wayward movement and awkward turn with 
so much finesse and apparent ease that the on- 
looker is completely deceived ; and he wends his 
way through complicated traffic, his horse always 
in hand ; careful to anticipate any awkward move, 
and requiring just enough increasingly correct per- 
formance from his pupil to advance his education 
while it neither confuses nor discourages him. 
Watch him as he is about to turn at the end of 
the block ; part way round, the mouth subtly 
telegraphs that the horse does not quite under- 
stand, or does not wish to describe the correct 
semi-circle intended ; like a flash the reins " fish " 
the mouth, and if the answer still is "no," a step 
or two in a straight line, and then another at- 
tempt, or a turn the other way, but no confusion, 
and no quarrel ; here is a trolley on one side, and 
a steam drill on the other; forcing the pupil up to 
his bit, the driver fairly lifts him through, shifting 
the bit, and using all his arts to bring about the 
safe passage which he invariably secures. The 
spectator may say that this charioteer had no 

io8 



MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

hands, and that he hurt his horse's mouth, which 
very possibly he did, but both hands and manage- 
ment were of the best and most appropriate for 
that particular case, and any deviation from the 
methods followed might have caused a serious 
accident. What this man did, he is doing 
all day long, and every day, and probably he 
could not tell you why he adopts his methods, 
or what those methods are ; condemn them 
if you like, but be sure that, theory aside, the 
individual who successfully handles all sorts of 
raw horses in all sorts of places has hands of 
the very finest, and given time, his charges will 
usually acquire mouths and manners of the very 
best. 

The novice commits his first (generally his reg- 
ular) mistake when he sets out to "make" a horse's 
mouth by asking the animal to change his balance 
and yield to the bit before his muscles, especially 
those of the neck and crest, are limber and supple. 
Nothing is more likely to make a dead and hard 
mouth than the practice of putting a " dumb 
jockey " on a horse in his stall or box, bearing 
him up, and leaving him to "fight it out." The 
suddenly contracted muscles pain him, and he is 
thoroughly uncomfortable ; he fights back and 

109 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

learns that even if he does " lug " and lay his 
weight on the bit, he is no worse off than before, 
and another puller is made. If you mean to 
check a horse high, and especially to gag-check 
him, always do one of two things : either leave 
the check off the water-hook for the first ten 
minutes of the drive, or start with it five or six 
holes too long, to be taken up later. If you 
really want your charge to improve quickly and 
make a fine and sensitive mouth, drive him on a 
fairly loose check, and when you return, and after 
he is free of the wagon, bear him up hard and 
leave him so, on the floor or in a stall, for not 
over fifteen minutes. He is warmed up and 
can yield, and he freely does, often with extraor- 
dinary results. Of course his physical structure 
must be considered carefully, and impossibilities 
must not be asked, or another puller is assured. 
Thick and short necks cannot arch ; narrow 
jaws cannot flex too far; weak backs and loins 
will not bear too much strain ; of the two evils 
your horse will choose the lesser, and if he 
cannot give, and you persist, he must resist and 
pull. Conformation must always be taken into 
consideration. 

Broadly speaking, every horse that is fit to 
iio 



MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

use, ought, in heavy harness, to drive comfortably 
in either the check or preferably the half-check ; 
and ninety per cent of them will do so if proper 
appliances are used. The use of the middle-bar 
has many drawbacks, and tends to make a horse 
dead in his mouth very quickly, unless carefully 
applied, for, some day the plain loose chain gets 
twisted, the bit drops lower to a new place, the 
mouth is bruised, and, as hanging back procures 
punishment, the horse, again choosing the lesser 
evil, pulls to let the chain and bit numb his 
mouth and — another puller is in process of 
manufacture. Be sure the bit is neither too nar- 
row nor (as generally) too wide ; if the latter, put 
on leather cheek-pieces to make it fit, or get an- 
other bit. 

If the smooth side of an elbow bit is too easy, 
try the rough ; if the subject opens his mouth, 
put on an "all-round" nose-band; try the bit 
high and low, loose chain and tight, plain chain 
and twisted, until you find the " comfortable spot," 
and frequently shift it from there if he is inclined 
to take hold ; if a " tongue loller," or one which 
gets his tongue over the bit, try dropping it very 
low instead of, as usual, taking it up very high, or 
put on a long sole-leather port which will keep 

III 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the tongue in place ; if he " lugs " on one rein, or 
has a habit of lunging, sidling, or wheeling either 
way, apply a bristle burr until he gives it up, an 
instrument which, contrary to the S. P. C. A., is 
neither cruel nor used to " make horses prance " 
and " foam at the mouth," but to keep them out 
of shop windows, off sidewalks, and on all-fours, 
and is a most useful and necessary adjunct to the 
proper bitting of many horses ; uncomfortable, 
yes, but cruel, never, nor will its steady use 
cause even an abrasion. The demonstrations 
of the S. P. C. A., and certain old women, 
against these contrivances cause much merri- 
ment among all practical horsemen who use, 
always have used, and always will use them 
when "necessary," but "no longer and not 
otherwise;" in fact, it is only exceptional cases 
that require them. 

Every puller is made, none was ever " born 
so," and every such horse has some reason for his 
bad mouth, and some one arrangement of bit and 
bridle that will suit him, — it is for his intelligent 
owner, given certain fundamental principles, to 
learn the one and to provide the other. Sharp 
teeth are a frequent cause of trouble, and every 
master should see to it that his stud is inspected 

112 



MOUTHS AND MANNERS 

annually by a competent dentist, and no money is 
more humanely or practically spent. 

Of course a four-ringed snaffle or other bit may 
be used for heavy harness work, and in light har- 
ness the sensible and easy bits in vogue will in 
their various combinations meet practically any 
needs. In heavy harness, however, an "elbow" 
or a "Liverpool" bit is the sort in general use, 
and the methods named apply to these as to 
others. Given a proper mouth, the acquisition 
of acceptable manners is so natural a sequence 
and so entirely a matter of a little patience and a 
very reasonable amount of horse sense, that it is 
hardly necessary to go into the ways and means 
of perfecting education in these particulars. Firm- 
ness and constant rehearsal until letter-perfect, 
and all lessons short and frequent are the rules to 
follow, and your horse's accomplishments in all 
the practical decencies are limited only by your 
own patience and intelligence as an instructor. 
One always chuckles inwardly to hear an owner 
say, " I can't wait, my old mare won't stand, and 
has troubled me that way for the six years I 've 
owned her." What folly to allow one's self to 
be mastered by a dumb beast ! One might as well 
admit that one could n't open one's office before 
8 ii3 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

ten o'clock because the old bookkeeper did not 
choose to show up. You may be pretty sure 
that the old mare is more amused at it than any 
one else and fairly neighs with laughter at the 
biped who imagines he is master. 



114 




X 



Chapter IX 

THE FOOT AND ITS TREATMENT 

IT is inevitable, if you keep horses for any 
length of time, and really take interest in 
them, that you should develop a fad in 
connection with shoeing, and the care of 
the feet. It is earnestly advised that when this 
period arrives, you read carefully all the books 
treating of such matters available ; then select 
your fad, and stick to it through thick and thin, 
saving thereby much discomfort and probable 
injury to your animal and possible loss to 
yourself. 

" Well, come, now," you may say to the writer 
" what is your fad ? " And to this the reply will 
be made that it is the use of tips where any shoes 
are to be worn ; but that probably the "fad genu- 
ine " in this case is the unshod and bare foot and 
the use of no protection of any kind. This is 
not the result of theory, but of practice extending 
over many years, and applied to many animals. 

"5 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

Preliminarily he will assert that, given the op- 
portunity to rest the animal (by employing others) 
when the attrition of our stone and gravel roads 
has worn the foot to a condition where the horse 
evidences tenderness, nearly every horse — at all 
events the beast for average harness and saddle use 
— does better, and is vastly cheaper to keep if left 
barefooted. Secondly he gives it as his experience 
and opinion that an even larger percentage does 
better, lasts longer sound, and works more easily 
and naturally if no shoes are used but tips. 

Naturally Dame Nature does not in a night 
overcome the mistakes of years, nor produce in a 
moment the redundancy of material rendered 
necessary by the sudden exposure of the un- 
accustomed foot. The secreting vessels must be 
brought up gradually to the point of pouring forth 
in quantity the horny matter needed to repair such 
waste, and growth must be forced by the appli- 
cation of moisture ; and the foot itself gradually 
toughened, frequent intervals of rest being ar- 
ranged that renewal may keep pace with the 
attrition of travel. Of course the pleasure horse, 
for saddle or driving purposes, or the farm horse, 
is the animal indicated for this treatment, and the 
heavy drafter used on city pavements is outside 

ii6 



THE FOOT AND ITS TREATMENT 

the pale, both because of his weight and of the 
location and regular long periods of his labor. 
Our pleasure horses, on the contrary, are most 
irregularly used, and that for only a matter of an 
hour or two at a time, so that, if they have origi- 
nally fairly sound feet, they may be used either 
barefooted or wearing tips, and while not, of 
course, displaying that excessive action which 
weight in the shoe assists to procure, they retain as 
much of it as is necessary to attractive progress. 
Our showmen are in the habit to-day of leaving 
their exhibits barefoot between shows, and the 
shoes then applied greatly enhance the always 
extravagant action. While just at first wet swabs 
about the coronets, and even the use of the foot- 
tub, will force the horny growth, no moisture will 
afterwards be called for beyond that absorbed in 
washing the feet, or in travelling muddy roads. 
If growth is rapid, extra pains must be taken to 
keep the feet level and balanced, and frequent 
treatment with a rasp (never any other instrument) 
is needed to round up the edges of quarters and 
toes. The attrition of travel will remove all sur- 
plus horn, but it must be noticed that all horses 
do not wear their feet alike, and then it is your 
duty to preserve the level they destroy, and to 

117 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

credit yourself the amount of the blacksmith's 
bill you do not pay. 

A barefooted, or a tip-wearing horse rarely 
overreaches, and never interferes, stumbles, or 
slips, suffers from corns, quittor, quarter-crack, 
etc., nor ever injures himself or others with sharp 
calks. He will go a trifle short for a day or two 
sometimes if you wear his feet too thin, but never 
if you use tips. These are simply a protection 
to the toe, and therefore that portion of the foot 
must be regularly shortened and lowered, or an 
unduly elongated foot works harm to back ten- 
dons, and throws all the joints of the leg out of 
gear. This tiny crescent of iron (or steel) is set 
into the toe in a groove made just inside its edge 
by the drawing-knife, which is just sufficient to 
allow the admission of the tip, and fastened by 
three nails, to take the friction of travel by extend- 
ing just below the surface of the foot, extending 
round the toe to the widest part of the foot. 

The heels never need opening as is so usually 
done ; the bars and frog should be left entirely 
alone. The requisites are a level and natural tread, 
and this must be carefully provided, or quarters, 
if weak, may develop fissures or quarter-cracks. 

Wash your horse's feet always, and have them 
ii8 



THE FOOT AND ITS TREATMENT 

wiped over, when going to the door, with a damp 
sponge, but do not defile them with grease or 
blacking which will not keep clean for ten steps 
and will cover your hands and gloves with filth 
if you touch them. Such applications close all 
the pores, and prevent the entrance of moisture 
thereby ; besides which, the equine foot perspires 
and should be allowed to do so unchecked. 

The savage travels barefooted over the rough- 
est and most stony ground, and so will that horse 
which has never been shod, — especially if he is 
protected for the first time by tips. Shoes and 
boots render soft the savage's leathern sole, how- 
ever, and so do the refinements of civilization 
cause the horse to seem to demand similar assist- 
ance. As the one foot can be toughened so can 
the other. 

Certain fast trotters need — so far as experi- 
ment has gone — an extremely long toe, and 
various forms and weights of shoes to so balance 
them that they can reach and maintain the limit 
of their speed. Many celebrated show horses 
require similar appliances to display that high and 
stately action which catches the attention of the 
crowd, and draws the approval of the judges. 
The pleasure animal, the " common or garden " 

119 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

horse, the race horse, and the pony in all his 
heights will do perfectly well in tips, or barefooted 
if due allowances are made for rest and for recu- 
peration of the horn-producing vessels from time 
to time. The writer has proved this time and 
again, not in isolated cases, but with dozens of 
horses, and of all ages and conditions, but natur- 
ally not without close personal supervision, and a 
knowledge for himself that all details were attended 
to, all directions carried out. Grooms, black- 
smiths, and even the average horse-owner are 
opposed to all innovations, and even if they adopt 
them, do so more with the idea of proving them 
impractical than the reverse. Fair trial is what 
all such plans should be accorded, however, espe- 
cially when so great an economy is possible. If 
you chase hither and yon to save a cent a bushel 
on oats or a trifle on hay, why not fairly try a 
scheme that will save you many dollars per annum, 
— not only in smith's bills but in wear and tear 
of horse-flesh ? We all agree that the first thing 
to do when we turn our horses out is to either 
pull off the shoes or to replace them with tips, 
and thus equipped we allow them probably to 
travel several miles daily in ranging over their 
pasture, — and that means a good many miles 

1 20 



THE FOOT AND ITS TREATMENT 

when we consider the quality of the average 
pasture-ground ! What is there to ordinary har- 
ness or saddle work that is more exacting, or 
likely to wear away the horn ? If you fear to try 
it on the front feet, treat the hind after this plan ; 
and if it seems too radical to leave the subject 
barefoot all summer, take the early spring or the 
winter snows for the experiment. 

The only means of keeping a shod horse safely 
on his feet over the treacherous wet asphalt is 
to either leave him barefoot, or to shoe him with 
a rubber pad, which is a fairly faithful imitation 
of the surface of his unshod foot. These rubbers 
are acknowledged to be the only artificial means 
to this end, yet we pay four dollars a pair for 
them when Nature, if we give her a chance, will 
provide them as good in every way, gratis ! 

When you shoe in full, use a narrow one, thin 
at heel and flat on the foot surface, being very 
carefully fitted there, fitting the foot like a second 
edition of itself. Discard knife or buttress res- 
olutely, and be sure that the rasp will remove 
all that needs displacing, and usually a good deal 
more if you don't watch the operator carefully. 
This instrument will shorten the toe, level the 
tread, and do the whole work, including rasping 

121 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

a sharp point on the clinches so that they may 
hammer smoothly down. Never permit these 
to be drawn too hard, and after they are turned 
down, just smooth them [not the foot) over with 
the rasp, thus leaving intact the delicate covering 
of the foot. Such a shoe should be convex on 
the ground surface, and the big natural frog assists 
this very narrow protection, which rests upon 
the bars as intended, and not upon the sole, to 
provide a good foothold, and to minimize the 
concussion to the limit. Indeed, such a shoe is 
quite as useful as though sharpened even in the 
frostiest weather, and provides quite a secure 
footing. Bevelling of the toe should always cause 
the new shoe to imitate the shape which travel 
had caused the old one to assume, and we are 
very careless in not recognizing this need and 
compelling the horse to anew stub away his toe 
until a comfortable angle is reached. Six nails, 
and generally five are enough for any shoe, and 
these should be driven at a sharp angle with 
the ground surface so as to take a short hold of 
the horn, and to come out as near the ground 
surface as possible, and at the same time to 
cross the grain of the horn, over-lying just 
enough of it to afford the clinches a nice hold. 

122 



THE FOOT AND ITS TREATMENT 

All nail holes must grow down as the horn grows, 
and have no other way of disappearing ; hence 
the closer they are to the ground the quicker 
they grow down and the sounder the foot, which 
a number of different appertures greatly weakens. 
For this reason, also, the nail holes should be 
well spread apart, and the shoe not drawn too 
tight ; in fact it should always be easy at the 
heels and quarters, and so that daylight is visible 
between horn and metal there. Pricking and 
serious wounds to the foot may be avoided and 
proper direction of the nails insured if the nails 
are gently driven with repeated taps of the ham- 
mer and not banged home with a blow or two as 
if one were welding a boiler-plate. Owners 
should insist upon this precaution and leave any 
artisan who will not take it. The man does n't 
live who can properly and quickly apply a 
shoe by " cold-fitting," and nothing is gained by 
the process, any way. Excessive heat should not 
be allowed in the shoe about to be applied, but 
this mistake is not usual. 

Shoe always as lightly as is commensurate with 
labor, and thus avoid all needless concussion, 
and jar to feet, legs, and body. Our efforts 
should all be directed to preserving the natural 

123 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

and original shape of the foot and not to attempts 
to improve upon what is already exactly suited to 
the animal's needs. The blacksmith of to-day is 
a man of great skill and intelligence, wide awake to 
the advance of methods and to the new departures 
in his trade. He is competent, as a general thing, 
to not only apply but to originate patterns suitable 
to the case at hand, and to-day the diseased or 
irreparably abused foot is becoming quite uncom- 
mon — and to this end the daily and the sporting 
press have worked their active part. No details of 
this kind are too much trouble forthe owner to take, 
and any man who assumes to take horses under his 
charge and into his stable is deficient in his duty as 
a man, and as a master, if he does not as thoroughly 
insure their ability to comfortably do their work 
as he provides their food and shelter. 

Certain diseased conditions of the foot necessi- 
tate special shapes of shoes, but many or most of 
them will be as quickly relieved by the methods 
given here as by more complicated means, all of 
which are valuable according to the faithfulness 
with which they imitate nature and allow her 
processes to proceed undisturbed. 



124 



chapter X 

THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

CORRECT appointment may, for want 
of a better definition, be described as 
a genuine harmony of all details and 
outlines, quietness of ornamentation 
and color, and appropriateness of animal, vehicle, 
and equipment in every essential^ resulting in the 
perfection of good taste, inconspicuous in detail, 
yet thoroughly competent for the purpose in- 
tended. Let caprice be ever so rampant, and 
personal predilection ever so pronounced, he who 
is thus turned out is correct beyond dispute, and 
when this fact shall have been generally accepted, 
we shall arrive at really intelligible and intelligent 
results, and cease splitting hairs over the absurd 
issues which are to-day held paramount. 

Foreigners are vastly amused at our laborious 
efforts in this direction. The English and French 
whom we assume to imitate, go to no such ridicu- 
lous lengths, and, in fact, save in the matter of 

125 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the equipages which they use upon state occasions 
and court days, elect in all such matters to indulge 
liberally in personal preference and convenience. 
If they, after centuries of trial, have reached such 
practical conclusions, by what right do we arro- 
gate to ourselves the power to set up standards in 
such matters, since, seventeen years ago, before 
the inception of the horse-show as a public educa- 
tor, we few of us soared above the level of the 
carryall, the buggy, and the chaise, distinctively 
American vehicles, which it is doubtful if we have 
ever, for practical use, greatly improved upon. 

It must not be imagined that any intention ex- 
ists of ridiculing the methods by which we have 
arrived at the generally attractive ensemble which 
nowadays predominates ; on the contrary, there 
can be nothing but praise for the amateurs who 
have given so liberally of both time and money to 
attain perfection in such details ; but this con- 
ceded, it can hardly be denied that there is a con- 
stant straining for effect which inevitably prevents 
lack of uniformity of arrangements, and the adop- 
tion of any definite standard of excellence, and 
seems to insure the arrival at results but too often 
as bizarre as unworkmanlike. Dictatorial selec- 
tion has almost completely overridden common- 

126 



THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

sense appropriateness. Everything very plain, 
and very neat is the acme of good taste. 

Of course one reahzes that we are passing 
through a curiously abrupt transition stage in 
these matters. So many more people " keep a 
carriage " than formerly, such a number of us 
have become suddenly and extremely wealthy, 
and, this being the case, desire that our equipages 
shall produce upon the general public the same 
feeling of amazement and gratification which wc 
ourselves continually experience in such contem- 
plation, believing that by garish display such ends 
may be attained. 

Among the most common of our failures is our 
curious habit of keeping horses, carriages, har- 
nesses, servants, etc., all (or most) excellent of 
their kind, but, in their relations to each other 
total misfits. One constantly finds pretentious 
equipages thus appointed : the smart miniature 
brougham drawn by a pair of coach horses, and 
having two fat and heavy servants on the box ; 
the imposing landau " turned out " with a couple 
of slight and light servants, a pair of small and 
narrow horses at the pole lapped in harness suit- 
able for light phaeton use, or some huge old family 
brougham similarly appointed. Liveries are 

127 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

often most extraordinary in cut, color, and con- 
ception, and too often of the "hand-me-down" 
patterns of the ready-made establishments, while, 
if breeches pass muster, boots are apt to be shock- 
ing, and to look as if James wore them while 
washing the carriage and milking the cow. Again 
one sees a really fine and perfectly appointed ve- 
hicle disfigured by the figures and faces of the 
men in charge, who look as if they might, either 
of them, fit the innuendo of the London 'bus 
driver in Punchy who says to such a one, " Now, 
then, gardener, when will the coachman be well 
enough to get about again ? " Trim and present- 
able servants are a most important detail of any 
establishment, and care in their selection is as im- 
portant to the general effect as that exercised over 
horses, carriages, etc., and infinitely more so than 
the quibbles and squabbles we are constantly 
obliged to endure while learned authorities ( ? ) 
ponderously argue over the location of the breast- 
plate upon the wire of the kidney-link, and the 
merits of three rivets (clips outside) on the hame 
tugs, or the relative propriety of square, horse- 
shoe, or D-shaped blinkers. 

Although seeking to establish rules for such 
details, yet we allow our servants to assume an 

128 



THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

attitude upon the box suggestive of nothing so 
much as " the monkey on a stick " of " The 
Geisha " fame, as grotesque as inappropriate, as 
uncomfortable and unbusinesslike. This "cor- 
rect "(?) attitude (and not a few of the masters 
have adopted it themselves) consists in perching 
upon the very edge of the cushion, with the back 
much hollowed, knees much bent, and the heels 
against the edge of the seat fall ; a position calcu- 
lated apparently to project the contortionist into 
space if perchance his gee-gee make a mistake or 
stumble. This posture undoubtedly was origin- 
ally adopted by some short footman or lad who 
could not otherwise reach the heel-board, and 
being perched upon the vehicle of some ultra- 
smart owner, it was assumed that this must be 
the dernier cri in form, and forthwith this atti- 
tude of compulsory discomfort became the posi- 
tion of established fashion. That any self-respect- 
ing amateur, however, should thus make a show 
of himself is as senseless as it is un-American. 

Another and more serious offence against or- 
dinary common-sense appropriateness of detail 
we notice when our carriage pulls up at the 
door and our footman must jump down into the 
mud, snow, or dust, and amid traffic, run thence 
9 129 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

around the carriage or horses, before he can ap- 
pear at the door where we sit ; nor when in mo- 
tion can we readily, from our seat on the right 
side, get at this servant, who sits upon the left, 
the place of all others where he is not wanted. 
Wherever traffic tends to the left, the coachman 
sits upon the right for the very excellent reason 
that his seat-mate may then alight upon the side- 
walk, or doorstep, wherever he pulls up, and be- 
cause thus placed, he can see his outside wheel, 
gauge distances, detect and avail himself of open- 
ings far away in the tide of travel constantly 
drawing nearer him, his horses meanwhile winding 
smoothly in and out, never suddenly checked, 
sharply turned, or quickly started. For the same 
identical and excellent reasons he should, where 
traffic is to the right (as in America), sit upon the 
left, and there is absolutely no logical reason for 
sitting elsewhere. Remember, also, that as you 
(and your servant) are constantly hindered in city 
streets, because from your (and their) seat on the 
wrong side you cannot avail yourself of the 
chances offered, you yourself further obstruct 
traffic, as do the thousands of others who adhere 
to this utterly unreasonable custom. 

Originality is something. It at least shows that 
130 



THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

one has given thought and attention to the matter 
in hand, and has an individual opinion ; but 
slavish and unreasoning imitation is less than 
nothing, especially the imitation of methods and 
customs which have no reason for existence ; 
and in no detail of appointment matters does this 
imitation reach such dangerous and ridiculous 
lengths as in that connected with the harness, its 
"trappings and its strappings." Thus, once up- 
on a time, the punctilious pundits who adjudicate 
upon such matters, proclaimed that no harness 
was properly arranged for use with a carriage 
owned or driven by a lady, unless it included lace 
housings, fronts, rosettes, and loin straps ; sub- 
sequently it was determined that such trappings 
were en regie only when a servant drove, and 
were a part of the full dress equipment imperative 
only where he was to take active part. At the 
Garden, 1901, not a single carriage was thus 
" turned out " (in the brougham class for pairs), 
and the only housings were those borne by a pair 
which got fourth, — these being of brass curb-chain 
pattern ! In view of these absurdities — for really 
they are nothing else — why pay any attention to 
details ? One cannot change frequently enough 
to be correct. Judges endorse at one show the 

131 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

angular outline of the high-backed Victoria (which 
found such speedy oblivion, thank Fortune), and 
at the next they insist upon the graceful, flowing 
lines of the beautiful sea-shell pattern. Now for 
this, and again for that, but all as caprice or fancy 
dictates ; and never do the safety and practical 
usefulness of either carriage, harness, or methods 
of " putting to " the horses appear as factors 
either in public appreciation or show ring de- 
cision, while some of the requirements are posi- 
tively dangerous and unsafe. For example, pole 
straps must never go around the collar-throats 
(nor must the breast-plates), and yet, otherwise, 
the whole weight of the vehicle, etc., which may 
be three tons of coach and passengers, is stopped 
and held back, by what? Why, by a hames-strap 
not half an inch wide, nor a quarter of an inch 
thick, confined by a tiny buckle with a tongue (on 
which all the strain may come) no larger than a 
match — a mere bit of wire — and bear in mind, 
if this wire breaks, and the pole straps are not 
around the collars, everything goes. So with the 
breast-plate, which, properly (?) appointed, must 
work upon the kidney-Hnk wire only. Of what 
earthly use is it there in case of need? and how 
generally you find it so loose that it never tightens 

132 



THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

even when horses back, and yet all is passed as 
" correct " and proper ! The almost universal 
abandonment of breeching in all light, and some 
heavy, four and two-wheeled vehicles also affords 
its elements of great danger, and has, from the 
unaccustomed pressure on the root of the tail 
caused by holding back, brought about many a 
kicking match and ensuing bad accident. How 
consistent we are in insisting that the ninety- 
pound one-man wagon shall be provided with 
breeching, etc., while the one-thousand-pound 
tandem cart, for instance (carrying possibly four 
passengers), would be regarded as extraordinarily 
" out of line" were it so appointed ! 

What utter nonsense is all this matter of at- 
tempting to draw fine distinctions between finger 
or anchor hame drafts, open or jointed hame 
links, square or horseshoe buckles, pads, straight 
pattern or otherwise, where and how the hame- 
clip-rivets are placed, or when and how certain 
bearing reins and bits may or may not appear ! 

Judges walk out of the show ring after " settling 
the hash " of all comers in one of these appoint- 
ment classes, and the winner bears away the blue 
with his collar so short and narrow he can hardly 
breathe, gag-checked so his backbone creaks, his 

U3 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

browband so narrow it cuts his ears, his blinkers 
so close he cannot see, and producing uncomfort- 
able heat about his eyes, his backstrap so short 
that only his cramped condition prevents his 
kicking the trap to pieces, his pad too narrow in 
the tree, and his hame tugs gripping his shoulders ; 
girthed so tightly that he wants to lie down (and 
sometimes does). However, he has his rivets and 
breastplate all right, and the judges receive the 
plaudits they are conscious of deserving. Nor is 
this an imaginary happening. You may see it at 
pretty nearly every show you visit. 

The harness makers and carriage builders are 
sadly hampered in their undertakings by the va- 
garies of show ring judges in so illogically and 
so constantly changing the standard ; for what is 
O. K. one season is all wrong the next. It is 
true that these industries frequently venture, upon 
their own accord, into the realms of the fantastic 
and the wonderful, and we all remember some of 
the extraordinary contraptions which have been 
thus evolved and put upon the market; harness 
as hideous in detail as ensemble, vehicles telescop- 
ing or expanding in all directions, and providing 
everything from a baby carriage to an ambulance, 
according to what springs were pushed, and what 

134 



THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

arrangements were unfolded. Such contrivances, 
of course, can never be seriously considered, but 
there should be certain standard types that shall 
be permanent, duly authorized and accepted as 
correct. The associations which regulate the in- 
terests of such industries have it in their power, 
by proper action and adequate representation, to 
accomplish much in these directions, and they 
should attempt it. 

Horse shows have done much to awaken inter- 
est, and forward undertakings in these details. 
Never a little local show occurs that is not fol- 
lowed by a smartening of the neighborhood 
equipages. Even though evanescent in effect, 
the good seed is sown, and it is wonderful to 
turn back seventeen years, to the time of our 
first exhibition, and realize how general has 
been the " sprucing up." It is not so very long 
ago (when we were lads, though, dear me, that is 
a long way back !), but, anyhow, then the smartest 
thing one could find on our public highways was 
a landau drawn by a pair of logy, long-tailed 
horses, caparisoned with what is now the " com- 
mon or garden " depot hack harness (including 
oftentimes overdrawn checks), coupled far apart, 
so that, like ancient mariners, " they looked east. 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

they looked west," and engineered by an aged re- 
tainer whose hvery was, in winter, the boss's cast- 
off overcoat, and in summer one of his linen 
dusters, while those really inclined to be devilish, 
ornamented the beaver hat, which crowned the 
whole, with a velvet band and a silver buckle ! 
With his " Galways " fluttering under his chin 
and ears, and a rein clasped in each white cotton 
gloved hand, these faded Jehus plodded solemnly 
over the drives and through the parks, as thor- 
oughly convinced that they were the " correct 
thing " as were their complaisant employers. 
These equipages, while they would hardly fill the 
bill from latter-day standpoints, were thoroughly 
American, generally useful and distinctly individ- 
ual, as were the old-time carryalls, chaises, and 
buggies which have never, for real comfort and 
convenience, been improved upon. Were James 
still in the flesh, and were the old bays yet jog- 
ging about, think how easy it would be to find 
them in line after the opera ; James's flamboyant 
whiskers giving off their asolian melodies, and 
the bays, as handy as a yoke of oxen, monopo- 
lizing the whole street ! As it is, Jones, Brown, 
and Robinson are in dire distress to pick out 
the family outfit, so dismally alike do they all 

136 



THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

appear, and unless Jones has had the nerve to 
ornament his blinkers with a crest (which prob- 
ably does not belong to him), he is only 
kept out of Brown's brougham by the positive 
refusal of Brown's footman to allow him to 
enter. 

There are certain native vehicles, and various 
arrangements of harness, etc., which are distinc- 
tively American, and light, comfortable, and con- 
venient, but these are relegated mostly to country 
and seashore use where "it really makes no dif- 
ference." Surely we might be more independent, 
more patriotic, and less imitative of the methods, 
manners, and management of other countries. 
Because a certain thing is English or French, 
does not necessarily prove it either correct or ap- 
propriate for our needs. American carriages, 
harnesses, etc., on distinctly national models, are 
making huge advances in Great Britain and 
all foreign countries, because our styles are 
light, durable, practical, and sensible. Can we 
not appreciate our own blessings, and like- 
wise endorse native enterprises, without supinely 
(and often mistakenly) trying to imitate alien 
fashions ? 

New carriages from the best builders run in 
137 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

price about as follows: brougham, ^1,200 to 
^1,500; Victoria, $800 to ^1,200; runabout, 
^300 to I450; gig, I450 to $600; coach, 
|2,200 to 12,700; hansom, $1,000 to 1 1,200 ; 
spider, stanhope, or demi-mail phaeton, |8oo 
to $1,200; carryall, or depot wagon, $250 to 
|6oo. Excellent vehicles may, however, be 
obtained from builders of lesser note for fully 
thirty per cent less. Second-hand carriages in 
good repair will average about one quarter the 
price they bring new, and many capital bargains 
may be obtained by visiting the auction rooms, 
taking care to buy closed vehicles in the spring, 
and open in the fall, for the reason that the 
opposite condition of the seasons makes them 
cheapest then. 

Harnesses average about like the appended 
figures: brougham single, $150, double, I300 ; 
hansom, $80; four-in-hand (park), $400; road, 
$175; runabout, $85; tandem, $200; road 
harness, $2S to $150; all these prices vary- 
ing according to the maker's reputation, to the 
mounting (whether brass or silver), and to the 
extra ornamentation and finish. Second hand 
they bring prices according to condition, but 
averaging about thirty per cent of the original 

138 



THE APPOINTMENT FAD 

cost. Excellent plain new harnesses may be had 
at ^50 single, and $125 double, and road harnesses 
at $2^ ; all good purchases, and as durable, 
practically, as any, but not quite so finely 
finished. 



139 



chapter XI 

THE SADDLE-HORSE 

WHILE the comparatively recent in- 
terest in all outdoor exercises has 
given renewed impetus to the glo- 
rious pastime of riding, and while 
fashion originally conferred upon it the seal of 
approval because it was English, and therefore 
proper, no nation has from necessity been more 
generally a user of saddle animals than Americans. 
From the early days of settlement, the pacer of 
the Providence Plantations and the more or less 
thoroughly " gaited " horse of other sections were 
the regular means of locomotion throughout all 
our great country, until gradual civilization and 
adequate road provision made possible traffic 
upon wheels. 

Just in proportion as the possibility of vehicu- 
lar transportation increased, the care for, and the 
attention to, the saddle beast decreased, until the 
advent of railroads and decently kept highways 

140 




u 

H 
X 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

and " pikes " produced among our hustling citi- 
zens the rush, hurry, and drive which left neither 
time nor inclination for the pursuit of equestri- 
anism as an enjoyment, and, as fast as settlements 
became established, saddle-horses gave way to 
wheels, double impetus being given to this move- 
ment from the very beginning, through the fact 
that our ingenious mechanics at once produced a 
vehicle which for easy riding qualities, for strength, 
and for ease of draft has never been excelled even 
unto this day — the old-fashioned, leather-hung 
chaise of our boyhood's days (and long before). 

In certain districts of the South and West the 
mild climate, and the imperfect condition of the 
roads at certain seasons of the year, rendered the use 
of the saddle-horse a necessity, and all children 
must ride perforce, as soon as able to get about 
alone. This bred a love for such exercise in these 
sections, and as society drew into closer connec- 
tion, the class of horses bred, and their thorough 
education, became a matter of great local pride 
and intense rivalry. Even these sections, how- 
ever, while they produce and market many of the 
best saddle-horses seen, have ceased to really use 
them in a general and matter-of-course way, so 
that go where you will, you find wheels in use in 

141 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

every place where they are possible, and in many 
localities where they would seem impossible ; the 
plain fact being that Americans, as a race, are not 
enthusiastic sportsmen, and care little for outdoor 
exercise for recreation's sake. This is of course 
the thoroughly natural result of inheritance, en- 
vironment, and tradition. Our children's chil- 
dren, the descendants of all our latter-day polo 
players, huntsmen, golfers, riders, drivers, yachts- 
men, etc., may logically and probably prove the 
most thorough and genuine sportsmen in the 
world, but we are, most of us, too near as yet to 
the counter, the desk, the office, the plough, pick, 
and shovel of hard-working, frugal, determined 
ancestors, whose pleasure was work, whose relax- 
ation was preparing for more work, and whose 
enthusiasm was all for the mighty dollar, its ac- 
quirement, its husbandry, and its augmentation. 

What the Narragansett pacer was to the Provi- 
dence Plantations, was imp. Diomed and his de- 
scendants to the Middle, the middle Southern, and 
the middle Western States ; but the ambling pal- 
freys of those days would find but little favor in 
modern eyes, either in gaits or appearance. The 
thoroughbred — the pure blood — was but little 
used for riding, although his more or less direct 

142 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

descendants were much appreciated, and, owing 
largely to the long journeys and the usually 
wretched roads, necessity and native ingenuity 
quickly set about methods to increase the ease 
to the rider, and furnish to him, and his not 
infrequent female companion en croupe, an easy 
gliding gait which should neither discommode 
the lady, nor fracture the eggs and bottles which 
were a not infrequent part of the cargo. 

The slow amble, or pace (most easily taught to 
animals of the proper conformation) was in gen- 
eral use, and even in those early times the hob- 
bles were used for purposes of education, and 
the legs tied together laterally until the " side- 
wheeling " motion had been acquired. This pace 
it was found was transmissible, and horses of a 
certain shape either possessed the gait from birth 
or readily acquired and easily performed it. From 
this beginning followed, at brief intervals, the de- 
velopment of the single-foot, or rack, the fox- 
trot, and the running-walk, but just in what order 
no man knoweth. 

While the gaited saddle-horse — the five gaited 
beast — of the West and South is upheld by his 
admirers as the only properly educated " saddler " 
(an excellent, expressive, thoroughly American 

143 . 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

and necessary word), he has found but limited 
favor in the East, and none at all in foreign coun- 
tries except in Cuba and Mexico. The reasons 
for this are plain and logical ; simply that the 
saddle-horse is used for separate purposes in the 
two localities, and that his adherents in the West, 
and his detractors in the East, are, from their point 
of view, both right. Your easterner rides gener- 
ally for exercise, and for the deliberate and sole 
purpose of jolting up that sluggish liver, or les- 
sening the pressure upon that bulging waistcoat ; 
he is also generally an individual of limited leisure 
and to him the trotting hack presents the quickest 
means of attaining his end ; moreover, all his tra- 
ditions and associations are with the English style. 
Your westerner, generally a man of spare habit, 
finds his pleasure in the gliding motion, the nim- 
bleness and the ease of the gaited horse, and his 
theories and environment blind him to the fact 
that he is compelling his animal to pursue his 
course at artificial paces, usually of the most tiring 
description, the rack — the favorite pace — being 
most severe and exhausting, since to properly per- 
form it the animal must go well up to his (curb) 
bit, must bend himself thoroughly, and must use 
hocks and knees as well as shoulders and stifles. 

144 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

The running-walk and the fox-trot are easier 
for the horse, and are most comfortable all-day 
gaits for the rider ; but when all is said and done 
these gaits are absolutely artificial, and most un- 
natural to one's four-footed partner, as proved by 
the fact that no loose horse ever employs them, 
and every animal unless kept constantly collected 
and made to differentiate them, will so run one into 
the other, and so scuffle and shuffle in his efflDrts to 
ease himself that all clearness is destroyed, and none 
can tell where one begins and the other ceases. 

Although a " saddle-horse register " has been 
started, and although the advocates of this variety 
of horse have made and are making persistent 
efforts to persuade the public of the vast merits 
of their commodities, the demand for gaited 
horses steadily decreases in the markets of the 
world. The walk-trot-canter horse is the one the 
public wants. 

If one uses it regularly, and was brought up to 
(and on) it, the square trot is the easiest for man 
and horse, the most natural, and the most sen- 
sible, whether for long distance or short, for close 
seat or " posting ". (that is, rising in the stirrups). 
Nearly all over the world this is the standard 
gait, and it is no more tiresome than any other, 

145 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

once the equestrian passes the novice stage. The 
cowboy trots his pony as persistently as the park 
rider his hack, and the two opposite styles of 
seats and saddles prove equally adaptable ; in fact, 
the trot is the regular plains gait for long distances. 

The walk is the most neglected pace the horse 
pursues, and few, indeed, are the animals that can 
perform it fairly, squarely, flat-footed, fast, and 
free. The hardest horse to beat in the show 
ring is he who comes striding in one, two, three, 
four, hind feet under girth, head nodding, quar- 
ters, shoulders, knees, and stifles all at work ; 
and, whatever his faults, he is the one his owner 
parts with most reluctantly, and regrets perpetu- 
ally. Occasional prizes have been given at our 
shows for walking, but, because they have not 
been especially exciting and attractive to the 
crowd, they have been generally abandoned. By 
all means possible, however, should proficiency 
be encouraged, not only for the amount of pleas- 
ure obtained, but through mercy for the horse, 
for none is so perpetually overworked, so regu- 
larly over-urged, as the slow, plodding, awkward 
walker, rarely allowed to pursue the pace because 
he does it so badly. 

The canter is rarely properly performed, and 
146 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

one sees constantly winners in show-rings which 
have not really and properly cantered a yard, 
their nearest approach to that feat being a more 
or less slow gallop, in which they change their 
lead (if indeed they do change) by " main strength 
and stupidity," and not because they are properly 
educated or really proficient. Changing the lead- 
ing leg in cantering " figure eights " is not enough 
proof of a really trained " saddler." Any horse, 
which is supposed to be A i, should change his 
lead at his rider's will in straight going ; do it 
properly and cheerfully, with hind legs well 
under, face perpendicular, balance perfect, mouth 
light, and cadence exact. The collected canter is 
very trying, and if one lead is regularly used, the 
hind leg of that side is sure to finally go wrong in 
the hock, or at other weak points. 

Horses are imitative to a wonderful degree, 
and a youngster can have no worse mentor than 
a calm, sluggish " old un," which saunters along 
at all paces, and is never in a hurry ; while the 
elder's improvement can only be accomplished by 
most diligent forcing into his bridle, riding him 
every yard by knee, calf, spur, and voice, literally 
"making him over again" if the job is not aban- 
doned in disgust before completion. 

147 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

The pace of the saddle-horse at the trot can 
rarely be improved. His method may be vastly 
bettered, of course, but the pace at which he can 
go squarely, without hitch or skip, is pretty accu- 
rately measured out to him at birth, and, beyond 
doing his work in proper form, little improve- 
ment can be made. The canter, being strictly an 
artificial pace, may, and should be in every case, 
perfected to the last degree. Proper bitting, sup- 
pling, frequent changing of direction, riding in 
small circles and figure eights, backing, "passag- 
ing," and the use of the pirouette, and the pirou- 
ette renverse in a crude form, are all necessary 
elements of education. 

What a, b, c, is to erudition, what ignorance 
is to knowledge, what crudity is to perfection, is 
ordinary horsemanship to la haute 'ecole^ and it is 
inconceivable that horsemen, amateur and profes- 
sional, should ignorantly sneer at this most deli- 
cate and most essential art ; the plain truth being 
that but very few have the intelligence or the 
ability to learn or to apply it. What calis- 
thenics are to the imperfect man, are these gym- 
nastic exercises to the improperly developed horse, 
and that is the substance of the whole thing. 

Writers and teachers of this art have purposely 
148 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

so hedged about their explanations ( ?) with verbi- 
age and mystery that the public have come to 
regard it as either a stupendous task, or a mere 
circus performance, than which nothing can be 
farther from the truth. The " high school " 
horse of circus and western production, which 
does a few "jig" and march steps under the 
powerful administration of curb-bit, spur, and 
whip, is as much like an adept at la haute ecole, 
as a grub is like a butterfly. We have never had 
ten thoroughly educated high-school horses in 
this country, nor six men who were capable either 
of training them, or of imparting their knowledge 
to others. 

In all forms of riding is this art most essential, 
and he who has it will turn a polo pony quicker, 
will hand a hunter over an " inthricate lep" more 
successfully, will get the last ounce out of a 
" chaser," will skim the rails closer in a race, than 
his more ignorant confrere, and the rudiments of 
it should be imparted (as they easily are) to any 
beast used under the saddle. The proper signals, 
the proper aids in equestrianism are so absolutely 
a matter of plain common-sense, and so generally 
misunderstood or neglected, that it is a marvel 
that the most polite of animals does not rid him- 

149 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

self of his intolerable burden oftener than he does. 
Stand at the entrance to the park any day, and 
you can see nine hacks out of ten turn the corner 
wrong foot first ; start to trot, or (especially) to 
canter at signals from those on their poor old 
ridgepoles which mean exactly opposite to what 
they say, and which those patient heads and 
anxious hearts have, after vast effort (and many 
failures), learned to interpret backward, so to 
speak ; figuring out that a touch of the right heel 
(or a jab of the right spur) means "lead right" 
(not left, as nature diagonally intended) ; that a 
jab in the mouth and a stroke on the off-shoulder 
means "canter" if a lady is on board; that the 
left rein pulled across the neck means go to the 
right; that the fact that one's rider pulls the right 
rein, and signals to one's hind quarters to go the 
same way, must be disregarded as to the latter 
intimation; "whoa" sometimes means stand 
perfectly still, and then again it does n't ; while 
" c'lk, c'lk " may mean go very fast, or walk a little 
quicker, but which, one can't tell until one tries. 

That our saddle-horses are not as a rule more 
perfect in training and manners is due chiefly to 
that impatience, that eagerness for results^ how- 
ever imperfect, which is so thoroughly a part of 

150 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

the American character. Much time, patience, 
and money must be expended upon the animal to 
make him as perfect in his work as he should be, 
and for this scientific labor the buying public are 
not willing to pay prices fairly remunerative to 
trainers. 

Again, the average American equestrian is not 
himself sufficiently proficient to ride a really 
highly educated horse, as his impulsive nature 
will not allow him to expend the time or money 
necessary for competent instruction, and its ac- 
companying adequate practice. As a consequence 
his seat is generally insecure, his hands of course 
of the worst ; while of the proper aids to the art 
he has not the faintest conception, and further- 
more generally takes vast pride in his ignorance. 

Hands — that delicacy and pliability of touch 
which is so necessary for the proper performance 
of all equestrian evolutions, are absolutely depen- 
dent upon a secure and elastic, properly balanced 
seat, and to this there is no royal road but that 
of constant rehearsal under competent supervision. 
The riding schools will teach any one to " remain " 
upon a steady old school slave in a course of from 
fifteen to thirty lessons, and with this the average 
citizen is satisfied. 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

If you must buy a horse for saddle use on one 
qualification only, be sure he moves his hocks 
well, and "goes off them " as the dealers say. A 
good deep slanting shoulder is valuable ; a well 
set head, and a long neck that " bridles," that is, 
bends well, is an advantage ; a strong loin and 
back, and well-sprung ribs a blessing ; good open 
feet, and broad, flat bone, with no " dishing " or 
"toeing out," a requisite; but when all is pos- 
sessed (and said and done) if the animal does not 
" bend his hocks " he will never give you a really 
good and comfortable ride ; will lose his action and 
elasticity with fatigue ; will tire to death in deep 
going, and will prove the failure that any machine 
must be when defective in its most important 
(and least considered) detail. 

Be sure your bridle and saddle fit, and are 
properly put on. The universally used double 
bridle is too frequently short in brow band, mak- 
ing it lie uncomfortably about the thin skin at the 
ears ; the bridoon is generally placed three to five 
holes too high, and the rings are far too small, 
the bit too thin and narrow. What is called a 
" Dexter snaflle " makes the best possible bridoon 
bit. If the bridoon is too high, the curb-bit is as 
universally too low, the port too frequently pres- 

152 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

ent, the arms too long. Look at the tender skin 
on which these weapons must rest ; oh, reader ! 
figure to yourself the agony easily inflicted, and 
buy the largest, easiest bits you can find, seeing 
that they lie always well below the angles of your 
patient servant's mouth. The saddle, well pad- 
ded everywhere, should be well clear of the 
shoulder blades, and, if you are a heavy man, be 
sure your tree is long and wide, that the pressure 
may be well distributed. If a woman, a thick 
felt, girthed separately about the horse, will afford 
a surface for your saddle to move on, while the 
affixing of your stirrup-strap to a billet on the 
ofF-cantle (after going around the body) will re- 
duce all shifting and consequent chafing to a 
minimum. 

If you will remember, after you have been out 
about thirty minutes, to have your girths tight- 
ened one or two holes, you will do well by your 
beast, and save a possible fall. Upon return, if 
saddles are left on for a while, the girths should 
be tightened to compensate for the weight re- 
moved, not loosened as is the custom ; but if 
plenty of cold water is well applied the pores of 
the skin 'will be closed, no injury or swelling 
result, and the saddle may be removed at once. 

^53 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

The bending, suppling, and mouthing of the 
horse need only patience and common-sense. 
The horse must yield every time, not you, and 
if you make a mistake and give before he does, 
you will have much to do to repair your error. 
Caress always that part that yields (or that per- 
forms) : the jaw, the neck, the shoulders, the 
croup, with whatever he accomplishes your wish ; 
reward that part immediately by caress (never 
word). As a clever teacher once said to his 
pupil, " If your little boy pleases you, do you 
kiss your little girl ? " and that is the whole thing 
in a sentence, the secret of Baucher, the essence 
of equestrianism, which, if you regularly practise 
and believe, simplifies everything about horse- 
manship. 

When the jaw, neck, etc., yield easily and pli- 
antly at a stand, proceed at a walk straight, in 
circles, figure eights, etc., and at the passage both 
right and left, always returning to the halt if the 
animal gets out of hand, always beginning and 
ending the ride with a moment or two of station- 
ary bitting. The same manoeuvres at trot and 
canter naturally follow, and form the last stages 
of the training of the average hack. 

Never tire the horse ; two lessons of thirty 
154 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

minutes each are much better than one of an 
hour, although occasionally a sulky or wilful 
pupil may keep you even two hours. Never 
punish without a reason that satisfies yourself, 
and always punish the part that has proved recal- 
citrant. 

Remember that a horse has two ends, and that 
it is essential to proper locomotion that both 
front and rear should be signalled to, guided, and 
always under proper control. Two methods of 
advance are possible, the diagonal and the lateral. 
For instance, the horse may lead in the canter 
with his right leg, but to do this his croup must 
first go to the right (of his own volition, or at the 
intimation of your left leg). He cannot canter in 
any other position, and your training him, and 
explaining to him what your leg, spur, or heel 
may mean, renders it impossible for him to do 
other than to perform your bidding properly and 
promptly, changing the lead by a reversal of sig- 
nals. A horse in training, and afterward, must 
be " ridden" every step. No partnership is pos- 
sible; he will do it his way if you are not master 
(and he "sizes you up" in a moment). He is 
kept up to his bit, made to bend, made to yield 
by constant, almost unconscious signals from the 

^S5 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

legs, reinforced, if necessary, by occasional appli- 
cations of the spur. He will not even stand 
properly, or back collectively, unless the rider's 
legs are doing their part. 

If it is desired to teach your horse to guide by 
the neck, a simple crossing of the reins under the 
neck, that a pressure on one side may accompany 
a pull on the opposite of the mouth, will quickly 
promote it ; or the western " hack-amore," a 
rope around nose and through mouth, will soon 
accomplish it roughly. As a civilian, however, 
you have two hands free, and will, if you ride 
much, find ample employment for both of them. 
There is no more reason for riding with one hand 
than there is for always mounting on the nigh 
side, as a moment's thought will show you. 

Never speak to your horse more than 
two words: "Whoa," and "C'lk;" and do, 
pray do, forget the latter, or the exasperating 
" P-w-e-e-e-p," so often heard, at least when in 
company. You have no right to ride any one's 
horse but your own, and your legs should suffice 
for that. Your " Whoa " should mean but one 
thing — dead stop — and be always quick and 
sharp, never drawled. Make your horse back 
frequently, and never be satisfied unless he will 

.56 



THE SADDLE-HORSE 

do so freely, promptly, and evenly, keeping him 
straight with leg pressure, and being sure he is in 
position to do so before the first step is asked. 
He cannot back unless he is, it is physically im- 
possible. 

The smaller the training inclosure, within cer- 
tain limits, the quicker will the animal learn, and 
the handier will he prove. A place fifty feet 
square is ample, or thirty feet wide and sixty 
feet long ; a twenty-foot box stall is sufficient for 
all but the trot and canter. 

Read all the books on equestrianism you can 
find, but sift out the chaff and remember that, 
given a few facts and a certain amount of elemen- 
tary instruction, all depends upon practice, com- 
mon-sense, and " horse " sense. 

The hunting man and the equestrian who 
"learned to ride before I could walk, and was 
brought up on horseback " are apt to scout the 
idea that the riding-school affords an arena where- 
in may be learned anything likely to further their 
accomplishments, scorning the suggestion that 
they are not perforce competent for all emergen- 
cies. The performer who " always rode with 
popper from the time I was so high " is generally 
as arrogant as he is dense. 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

To wander at disconnected paces round and 
round a dull brown parallelogram is not, per se, 
wildly exciting, and the sight of awkward men 
and " soggy " women flopping about on the long- 
suffering old riding-school slaves, jagging their 
poor old mouths into ribbons, is enough to make 
one take, in horror, to the bicycle. There are, 
however, other grades, but the kindergarten, in 
all schooling, and if one really sets about it, one 
will be aghast to find the amount one does not 
know, and to learn what a lenient critic was 
" popper." As workshop to the artisan, as class- 
room to the student, as atelier to the artist, so 
should be the riding-school to the equestrian ; a 
place for study, research, practice, and ultimate 
skilled performance. Any man of fair physical 
soundness may, if he will, progress far in this fas- 
cinating art, finding daily new fields of pleasure 
opening to him, and rewarded, not only by the ex- 
ercise aflforded and health obtained, but by the de- 
light found in gaining mastery over an animal so 
companionable and so lovable as the horse. 



IJ8 



Chapter XII 

THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

THE ancient receipt for "jugging" 
hare or rabbit began with the rather 
useful advice, " First catch your 
hare;" and an equally important de- 
tail concerning the education of hunters is to 
first get your apparently suitable raw material. 
Horses which in appearance and conformation 
are well worthy of consideration are passed by, 
or put to other work, far more generally than 
one would suppose, because the average buyer 
has set up false idols of worship, has been influ- 
enced, consciously or insensibly, by the drawings 
of Leech and of Sturgis, the works of Whyte- 
Melville, the Badminton books, etc. ; has, in fact, 
acquired a "false eye," and accepted quite errone- 
ous impressions as to what comprises essential 
hunter conformation and weight-carrying ability; 
demanding a bulk and height which are not only 
absolutely unnecessary, but possibly detrimental. 

159 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

A good weight-carrying horse is an easier ani- 
mal to find than one would imagine, if one will 
but abandon the untenable argument that lofti- 
ness and avoirdupois have necessarily anything 
whatever to do with such ability. These huge 
brutes of sixteen hands and upward have just 
two solitary points in their favor, — they are 
more proportionate, if their bulky riders be also 
very tall, and they make the fences look smaller. 
They are not as active as the smaller animal ; 
their own body-weight is generally an uncomfort- 
able impost, after hounds really run, and when 
the ground, — as seldom is the case in America, 
because of the seasons at which we hunt, — affords 
heavy going; their size is generally a guarantee 
that, close up, there is a cross of the coldest kind 
of blood ; their clumsiness, normally objection- 
able, is overwhelming when exhaustion impends, 
and they weigh a lot when the worst has come to 
pass, and you are trying to keep them off your 
wish-bone ! Again the average heavy weight is 
short and — well, plump; and these tall beasts 
are as insurmountable as a mountain range when 
embarkation is at hand, and about as altitudinous 
to fall from. They are, also, perforce, too thick 
through for a short and stout man to ride com- 

i6o 




o 

Q 
O 

o 

o 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

fortably ; even the extra length of stirrup- 
leather, which his round and short thigh compels, 
does not afford him a secure prop ; and the 
same arguments hold against the tall saddle-horse 
as against the hunter. Modifications of these 
characteristics are most essential if comfort is to 
ensue. As hunters and hacks for men are almost 
always selected above the needful power, so those 
for feminine use are usually the exact reverse. If 
a woman walks one hundred and forty pounds, 
she will ride at or near one hundred and seventy 
pounds ; yet any sort of slack-waisted, light-tim- 
bered screw is chosen for this job, doubly irk- 
some to it because weight and balance are mostly 
to one side ; and this " crock " effectually " wipes 
our eyes " by frequently carrying his burden 
safely and satisfactorily for years ; referred to as a 
mere " lady's horse," yet accomplishing tasks 
that would be considered impossible were they 
appreciated. How often, too, you hear men say, 
" Yes, I sold Honesty ; he carried me splendidly, 
but he was n't up to my weight ! " How curious 
that is ! As if the performance did not conclu- 
sively prove the ability, be size, make, and shape 
what it might. The plains pony of six hundred 
pounds weight carries all day and every day, 
" i6i 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

most of the time at a canter or jog-trot, a two- 
hundred-pound man, a fifty-pound saddle, blank- 
ets, "slicker" rope, pin, etc., about one-half his 
own body-weight, and this on grass alone, and of 
that only what he can pick up at intervals ; the 
tiny burro lugs two-thirds his own weight and 
often more ; yet we demand twelve hundred 
pounds of horse, high fed and fairly bred, to carry 
two hundred and fifty pounds of man and equip- 
ments for an hour or two's gentle ride, or for a 
forty-minute hand-gallop, with checks thrown in, 
after hounds! Is there any reason in that? 
Surely not, and in buying these huge horses 
heavy men are seeking false types, and at unnec- 
essary expense ; while in the fortunate lighter 
divisions the separations into the different grades 
of carrying ability are purely arbitrary, and use- 
ful for show purposes only. Any horse that will 
carry one hundred and sixty pounds properly 
will handle one hundred and eighty pounds 
just as well during the brief periods of use, 
especially if the rider does what any thinking 
man will, and slips off his gallant companion's 
back at every check, — a feat which the tall horse 
usually precludes. English types and require- 
ments are different from ours, and we are neg- 

162 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

lectlng and refusing every day good and cheap 
hunters (and hacks) because of this erroneous 
idea of what constitutes weight-carrying ability. 

When all is argued, the inevitable facts remain, 
that action is what carries weight ; that wind 
is strength ; that rather drooping quarters, and 
hocks a little " set in," and those hocks well 
flexed in action, insure ability at the jumping 
game; that while a fine, deep, sloping shoulder 
is beautiful, it is by no means absolutely essen- 
tial, not a few excellent performers being exactly 
differently constructed ; that the short-backed, 
close-coupled, close-ribbed horse not infrequently 
has no " liberty " to him ; that some of the best 
weight-carriers are slack of loin, long of back, and 
light of rib ; that horses must have length, at least 
below — " stand over " much ground proportion- 
ately ; and that as our thoroughbreds are gen- 
erally ruined by over-racing at two years, we can 
place but little dependence upon them, but must 
turn to the trotting-bred animal for our recruits ; 
and that these are fast enough, strong enough, 
and more manageable for the average equestrian. 
While our racing stables afford but barren 
fields for recruiting the ranks of our hunters, for 
the reason that, if good, the animals of suitable 

163 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

age — three and upward — are too expensive, or 
too unsound, to be desirable ; too light- framed, 
or too crazy, etc., there are, on the western 
tracks, not a few horses running in cheap selling 
races that are well worth purchase, and can be 
bought at suitable figures. There are also In the 
sales occurring annually at Lexington, Kentucky, 
in December, a lot of barren brood mares, stallions, 
and various racing misfits and failures, often very 
thin and out of condition, but selling for the 
merest trifle, that are well worth looking over. 
They run in price from $5 to $100, and the 
writer has seen many rare bargains, for hunting 
or hacking, going for a trifle. The objection 
that dealers and others have hitherto had to the 
thoroughbred is that there has existed among 
buyers an unfounded prejudice against him, and 
one found great difficulty in disposing of him 
even "in the raw." If orders were placed with 
any purveyor to secure a certain number at a fixed 
price per head, they to be of certain height, etc., 
quantities could be cheaply secured. If the de- 
mand exists it can be economically supplied. 

Once bought, it remains to teach the young 
idea how to competently perform his task, and 
many and various are the methods in use. One 

164 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

should decide at the beginning which style of 
leaping he prefers : the " flying," wherein a 
horse goes fast at all his fences, taking off a few 
feet away from them, or the deliberate, wherein 
he goes close " under " them ; " lobbing " over, 
and jumping from a trot when occasion serves. 
The latter has always seemed the best for every 
reason ; horses are more temperate, they may be 
stopped at the last moment if deemed wisest (and 
discretion is as valuable in hunting as in other 
pursuits) ; we seldom have to jump anything 
with a ditch, etc., on the " take-off" side, and 
horses take much less out of themselves. The 
" flying " fencer, on the contrary, becomes a 
"rusher" under average handling; he cannot be 
easily stopped or turned, and be it five inches or 
five feet, he goes at it thirty miles an hour, taking 
just that much more useless exertion. If this is 
the " sort " desired, it is only necessary to have a 
"rail" or a little " gripe " a short distance in 
front of every schooling fence, and to let him go 
along at them ; he will quickly learn to " stand 
away " from everything, and swing over a fair 
space of ground on both sides. The concluding 
objection, and a very strong one it is, to the 
" flying " leaper is that while you may at any 

.6j 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

time hurry your deliberate horse and make a 
" flyer " of him, it takes much patience and a 
good man to restrain your impetuous friend to 
other methods, and make of him the calm and 
collected patent-safety conveyance which we all 
prefer. 

The writer's own methods of schooling, applied 
to hundreds of horses, and always satisfactorily, 
save in a few cases of broken legs and necks 
which could not be prevented if education was to 
progress (the risks being fair for both because 
they were mutual), were always to get on a horse, 
and take him out jumping, with hounds if pos- 
sible, but anyhow never to let the pupil imagine 
for a moment that the excursion was a task, but 
to understand that he was only doing what he 
saw other horses do ; going where they went, and 
always on the way to some place. Thus it was 
the custom, after the horse had been kept a few 
days at the stable, and ridden about the roads so 
that he had a general idea where home was (the place 
where he always was cared for), to start off with a 
boy on a " made " jumper, ride away into the 
country a few miles, turn into somebody's field or 
woodlands, and ride across country toward home, 
taking what chance might bring. The steady horse 

i66 . 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

jumped first (and he must be a "flippant" fencer 
that will not refuse or swerve ; preferably one 
that the pupil has accompanied about the roads, 
and stands next to in the stable). With him well 
over (and waiting) it was " up to " you who had 
been several lengths back, that your mount might 
catch the idea and see how the other horse per- 
formed (for no horse but a steeplechaser learns 
anything from schooling beside, or close to, an- 
other). The novice of course is equipped with a 
plain, large snaffle, or some of the combinations 
of such a bit according to necessities ; no " double- 
bridle " should ever be used at such work ; acci- 
dent may catch the curb-rein, or you may 
unintentionally hold it too short, or accidentally 
hang on by it, and give your tyro a jab in the 
mouth that he never forgets and always associates 
with the proximity of a fence, spoiling him at once, 
possibly. Now, do, please^ leave at home all 
theories as to *' how to do it," and to " assist " your 
horse; remember this is his business, a.nd you mind 
your own, which is simply to remain on board until 
the worst comes. When close up, urge him 
gently to a trot — he can judge height better 
thus — and leave him alone to leap, scramble, or 
fall as best he can. If he refuses, as he rarely 

167 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

will if " between your legs " as he should be, just try 
again, and let him see now that his comrade on the 
other side is walking away from him. Never speak 
to him, and, above all, do not clap him on neck or 
shoulder to reassure him ; reward follows only per- 
formance. Now, somehow or other, he is over 
the obstacle (of course you are only asking for 
about three feet). This is your time for caress, 
and as you refrained before, accord it now. Jump 
off and make much of him at once, and bring 
the other horse back to him. How has he per- 
formed the feat.'' His brain has figured out that 
he must use his hind-quarters. He has done it, 
and immediately is with his friend. The points 
for caressing are the brain, the hind-quarters, and 
loin, and don t for one momeni imagine that he does ri t 
understand. Never caress him if he falls or 
bungles ; he reached his companion, which is 
what he was trying to do, and the fall was an acci- 
dent, but the first time he lands clear, do your 
duty, and forthwith he is half-schooled. " Now 
I see," he says to himself; " this curious creature 
who has always dominated and cared for me, ex- 
pects me to get clean over these things, and, as I 
bruise my shins if I don't, and get petted if I do, 
I '11 do my best to save myself pain, and give him 

i68 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

returns for his kindness." After this experience 
he finds that he duly reaches home, to which the 
only apparent way led over the fences, is made 
much of, and well fed upon arrival. Practically 
your hunter is ready for you now, and if you 
never ask him for extraordinary efforts in cold 
blood (but heed only his manners and the form 
in which he works), you may attempt when hounds 
are running, to jump anything in (or out of) 
reason ; he will try, anyway, and that *s all any 
horse or man can do. 

You may do about the same thing with hounds, 
and with no preliminary schooling ; letting him 
see the field go on, and then following quietly after 
for a mile or two ; leaving off, for a few times, 
while he is still eager and fresh ; and you will 
generally have a surprisingly safe ride. The nov- 
ice always jumps big, especially after he has 
rapped his shins once and, if he falls, he takes the 
greatest care not to hurt you, and, being unterri- 
fied by previous disaster, will always try to get 
up — a thing that an old horse will not always 
do, especially if a bit blown ; and this it is very 
handy to have him attempt, if he is lying on 
your cigars — you may want to smoke ! In fact, 
in a long experience of riding all sorts of horses, 

169 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

over, into, through (and under) about every im- 
aginable fence and combination thereof, the writer 
has never once been seriously hurt or broken any 
bones, except when riding the few " made hunt- 
ers " that chanced, through some infirmity of 
temper, to be sent to him for coercion. 

Contrary to general opinion, it has always 
seemed bad policy to deliberately try to put 
horses down by arranging traps for them, and 
making them jump fences beyond their powers. 
Horses must fall, but let that come in the course 
of events, and when the blood is up. A hunter 
should be as bold as possible ; and any fall that 
hurts him will never be forgotten, nor will it 
always make him more careful, for he sometimes 
seems to, desperately, take chances thereafter, 
and does not half try. Moderate-sized, unbreak- 
able fences are the things over which he may 
scramble and plunge, but if they do not break 
he concludes nothing will, and takes care not to 
test them. Better far three feet six inches in per- 
fect form over stiff fences, than five feet over 
loose bars that can be knocked off. Your neo- 
phyte never forgets the last occurrence, either ; 
and some day, when he is rather tired, he will 
take a chance at a big place, fail dismally, and 

170 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

leave you a possible job for surgeon or coroner, 
according to your luck. 

If you find that your pupil persistently "hangs 
his knees " — that is, folds his forelegs from the 
knee, but not from the shoulder and elbow — 
get rid of him forthwith. He can rarely be 
cured of the fault ; he will never be safe with it ; 
and if he does tuck those dangling limbs cosily 
under a stiff toprail he will give you a smashing 
fall that will — well, it will break your watch- 
crystal, anyway. A rogue, or a headstrong horse 
— as some excellent hunters originally were — 
is often well worth expending patience upon. 
Their failings are but the result of misdirected 
energy, caused by a bold and independent spirit, 
that will be invaluable once their confidence is 
gained. To this end patience and perseverance 
are the only means — never punishment. Ask 
them to do all sorts of unexpected (but perfectly 
possible) things ; being sure that you have plenti- 
ful leisure at your disposal, and never provoking 
an argument you are not prepared to carry 
through. Turn him out of the road and through 
that little gap and back again, or over that ditch ; 
ride up that woodland road, and out of it among 
the trees ; when about to enter the stable, turn 

171 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

and ride him away for a few hundred yards ; 
every time he wants to go a certain direction, make 
him go some other, or wait until he does. Just 
sit there, that 's all ; he will give in and finally 
have no mind of his own, once he finds it 's use- 
less, and that the quickest way to get through is 
to comply. Remember his mind only contains 
one idea at a time, that he is foolish and timid ; 
that he obeys, not because he wants to, but be- 
cause you deceive him into thinking he can't 
help himself. 

Once he has competently performed he needs 
no more schooling, and it is surprising to find 
how regularly every year many hunting men put 
their horses through a " course of sprouts " that 
serves but to disgust them. All that is necessary is 
to get the muscles used in jumping in order, and, 
in our short drag hunts, preliminary jumping is 
not called for, especially if there be a hill any- 
where at hand — the longer the better — up 
which horses can jog, trot, and canter (walking 
down) for an hour or so daily. Nothing better 
can be imagined for the purpose, and a hunter 
that knows his business is all the more keen if he 
never sees a fence from the last meet of our season 
to the first of another. If any schooling is done 

172 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

It should be at low and stiff fences, and always 
with a rider, as the balance is different when the 
horse is burdened ; and, as the object is to exer- 
cise the muscles, he will do so more perfectly if he 
carries a man. That the pen — the enclosed 
school — is useful enough to bother about may 
well be questioned, and a few fences made with 
wings that will not interfere with the lunge-rein 
answer just as well, if that sort of schooling is at- 
tempted. These obstacles should, of course, be 
low — not over four feet — stiff, and may be ar- 
ranged in a small area so that the pupil on the 
long rein may negotiate them in turn. The 
trouble with " pens " and " lunging " is that the 
subject is very apt to find too many things to 
distract his attention. If he is going to his fence, 
and you are going with (and on) him, he can at- 
tend strictly to the matter in hand. Another 
objection to the enclosure is that it is too handy 
of access and too easy for you to play with. The 
temptation is strong to show Tom, Dick or 
Harry " how the bay horse jumps," and, as usu- 
ally happens, when he does not " put up " the 
clean and clear performance which delighted one 
yesterday, one is not unlikely to keep at him un- 
til he does, or becomes so much worse that he is 

173 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

sent away in disgust — the truth being that his 
unusual efforts on the previous occasion have 
rendered him muscle-sore and disinclined to try. 
Reward and caress should follow performance 
here as elsewhere ; and remember horses as a 
rule hate jumping. 

Water of any width is not usually met with in 
our hunts because the dragman does not cross it. 
If one would have his horses jump such obstruc- 
tions, however, it is very easily taught them, and 
despite the objection said to be entertained by 
English horses to brooks, etc., our horses make 
no great to-do over them. 

The education of a hunter in America is vastly 
simplified by the fact that we have practically only 
two varieties of fence, post and rails, and stone 
walls. The wall is of all obstacles the easiest of 
negotiation, and in fact, where that is the general 
form of fence to be met with, schooling is practi- 
cally uncalled for. There is apparently some- 
thing about a wall, perhaps its apparent solidity, 
that makes it, whatever its height, the most ac- 
ceptable of fences ; nor does this fact change even 
when the agriculturist superimposes a " sheep- 
rail," perhaps a foot or more higher. Any 
horse that is not a cripple, or " ricked " in the 

174 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

back, is a hunter in a stone-wall country, and the 
boldness and cleverness there acquired stand 
him in good stead when rails or gates must be 
encountered. The writer has ridden dozens of 
horses (rarely the same horse twice) over a nearby 
country, where walls, many of them capped and 
two feet thick, form the chief impediments, run- 
ning up to formidable heights, frequently crowned 
with " sheep-rails ; " interspersed with plank fences 
and post and rails ; and although these animals 
had never seen hounds, nor a jump of any sort, 
was always up at the finish. This is only men- 
tioned (with apology) to show that personal ex- 
perience with quantities of horses of all sizes, 
shapes, and kinds, has proved how practical are 
such methods, and how generally wrong we are 
in all this schooling over which we make so much 
fuss and flurry; we will persist in trying to make 
an animal, who understands himself better than 
we possibly can, do his work after our fashion. 

Post and rails afford a fair and easy fence to 
the horse which has been deceived into thinking 
rails unbreakable ; he can see any impending 
ditch clearly, and can in every way allow for just 
what exertion is necessary. Rails have a forbid- 
ding appearance to those who have hunted in a 

175 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

wall country, but they are no more formidable in 
reality, the only difference being that your novice 
not improbably tries to break them when he is 
fresh, and certainly will when tired. The post is 
the safest thing to aim for unless it is too high 
above the top rail ; your horse will try hard to 
clear it because it seems solid, and a rail broken or 
carried away may split and fall so as to impale him. 
Gates are always highly dangerous, for if they are 
hit, the latch is generally so weak that the gate 
swings with you, and you may get an awful fall. 
However, no sane man will ever essay a gate on 
a "green" one, if any alternative offers. 

Opinions differ as to the pace to be employed 
at timber, but as rails are really no more formid- 
able than walls, the same calm and collected rate 
should be preserved at both, more especially at 
timber, if no gripe shows beyond. A deliberate 
horse may always be hurried, if needful, and so 
far as pace having any bearing on the height to 
be successfully cleared, we all remember Ontario, 
who used (at last) to turn round the edge of the 
wing at a walk, make perhaps three strides, and 
clear six feet and upward. Lord Minto and 
many other extraordinary high jumpers approach 
their fences at a hack canter. Even the rushers, 

176 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

coming to their fences like meteors, begin to 
"prop" a few strides away, and "take off" like 
the temperate ones. Therefore as both varieties 
employ at the critical moment precisely the same 
methods^ there is no argument left in favor of ex- 
cessive pace, and in America the flying leaper 
has no advantages over the deliberate. Wire is 
on the increase everywhere. The huntsmen of 
Australia are said to ride over this fence as a regu- 
lar thing, and it affords about all the leaping they 
have. By going at the posts one has a chance at 
such an obstacle, but it is only a chance, and 
while frequently nearly invisible against certain 
backgrounds, it also insures a hard fall and a 
badly cut horse if collided with. 

It will never prove a popular (!) fence, certainly, 
among even hard riders, and should it become 
universal, as apparently it must, hunting will be 
doomed. 

Neither " fjll bridles " nor spurs should be 
employed in schooling, nor (if rowelled) should 
the latter be used in hunting. They are thought 
to " look well " because we are used to thinking 
that they set off a top-boot, but only one man in 
fifty knows how and when to use them, — and 
that individual leaves them at home. More 

12 lyy 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

refusers, worse rushers, more rogues and cowards 
have been made by these contrivances than by all 
others put together ; and if you see a man down, 
and down hard, take another look and see if he 
isn't wearing spurs, with which he has just done 
some foolish thing, or reminded his sprawling 
steed that he had before been ripped up at a sim- 
ilar place, insuring a scrambling jump and ensu- 
ing grief Any horse that needs spurs to make 
him jump is no hunter, and no horse, properly 
educated, requires them, anyway. What a re- 
proach to a rider, on dismounting after a good 
run, to find his horse's sides and shoulders punc- 
tured and bleeding, his spurs and boots blood- 
stained ! half of the damage having been caused 
inadvertently, it is true, but not the less shocking 
for that. It has been well said that, with differ- 
ent combinations of the snaffle-bit, one can hold 
any horse. Leather or rubber-covered, four- 
ringed, nose-banded, gag-reined, running-reined, 
chain, twisted, double and single-reined, martin- 
gale or free, etc., the statement is very nearly 
true. 

Very few men are competent to handle prop- 
erly the double-reined bit and bridoon bridle, and 
it has had a recent vogue which is by no means 

178 



THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 

its due. It is used, not for any special and intelli- 
gent reason, but because the saddler and other ad- 
visers recommend it. The simpler arrangements, 
relegated to the groom's use, are just as appro- 
priate to the master's, and if the latter is possessed 
of the fine and delicate " hands " which he will 
not allow that the menial possesses, he should be 
able to make his horses bend and carry themselves 
just so much better, with the same tools, than 
the servant. Experiment will prove what form 
is suitable to the mouth and to your hand, for 
the trouble may, and does more often, lie at your 
door than at the horse's. 

Some of the arguments used, and of the meth- 
ods advised, may meet with scant favor. That, 
however, is not the point, and they are simply 
given as having proved useful in practise. We 
all have our own ideas about the best ways of 
accomplishing such feats, and as the main issue is 
the crossing of a country with safety and ease, 
and after as little preliminary trouble as possible, 
perhaps the plans recommended may at least be 
accorded a trial, results being left to speak for 
themselves. 



179 



Chapter XIII 

THE STEEPLECHASER AND HIS SCHOOLING 

" f I ^WENTY years ago," as the old man 
I in " Adonis " used to say, the 

J writer was once commissioned by a 

sporting friend to look out for a 
thoroughbred suitable for making into a steeple- 
chase horse. After diligent inspection of various 
winners, etc., the would-be purchaser was in- 
formed that there was nothing among the success- 
ful horses (on the flat) that "looked the part" 
for the cross-country game, and the reply has 
never been forgotten, for wisdom and conciseness 
quite unique. " You are watching the wrong 
end of the races," it ran. " Never mind the 
winners on the flat ; see what is in front — and 
stops — at four furlongs. If he gallops rather 
high, and seems to give up because he can't 
carry that action at the pace, buy him." This 
epitome has since proved almost invariably 
true. 

i8o 




C/3 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

" Action carries weight." " Wind is strength." 
" The best stayer is the sprinter, which only 
gallops while others race." These three maxims 
really contain the essence of truth, so far, at 
least, as selecting cross-country material is con- 
cerned ; and he who would go a-shopping would 
do well to bear them in mind. Countless have 
been the efforts to make over high-class flat- 
racers into crack steeplechasers, and in nearly 
every case the result has been dire failure. Years 
ago, in the late sixties, R. B. Connolly was fair at 
both games ; later on, Post-Guard (General 
Phillips), and Resolute (Mart Jordan), and Day 
Star performed fairly well, but in these three 
cases it should be remembered that fences were 
all very small, and that horses of no reputation 
on the flat were beating all three of them in the 
turns that our pernicious handicap system as- 
sured. More recently Dr. Catlett, quite a good 
flat race-horse, ran successfully over the " sticks," 
but he generally beat nothing much, and was apt 
to fall if hurried. Howard Mann, winner of the 
Brooklyn Handicap, was put to jumping, and 
was big enough and strong enough, had such 
qualities been useful factors, to carry any weights ; 
but a trumpery hurdle-race or two was the best 

i8i 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

he could annex. Fast horses (on the flat) have 
done well over hurdles, but practically never 
" through the field," and have been regularly and 
signally beaten by horses which could not (over 
the flat) " see which way they went." 

There is a reason for all things, as for this ; 
but what is it ? It has always seemed that the 
action was different — was higher and rounder 
in the successful cross-country horse. Whether 
this makes to his advantage over grass, or in 
jumping, or at both tasks, has never been 
conclusively and logically explained. Certainly, 
however, it seems that somehow, and " some 
why," this sort of action is essential to the suc- 
cessful jumper ; nor is the mere sprinting, fast 
horse any more likely than any other to prove a 
good performer, unless he is classed as a sprinter, 
for the reason that he cannot carry his high action 
at speed for any distance without tiring and stop- 
ping. This explanation is doubly logical because 
the gist of it is that the possession of speed proves 
the animal a high-class horse ; and his infirmity of 
excessive action^ which causes exhaustion at top 
speed, prevents his taking the position, on the 
flat, which is his by right of ability. Handi- 
capped by this shortcoming, he, at other tasks, 

182 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

and at a slower rate of speed, finds his opportu- 
nity and develops into the crack 'chaser we all 
admire. In other words, he is a high-clc^s horse ; 
but even as a colt can hardly win the Futurity if 
he has but three legs, so the animal in question 
can only go a certain distance at top speed, be- 
fore fatigue compels him to give up, and he is 
called a " quitter " and a " mere sprinter." If 
such a horse turns out well over jumps, we pro- 
claim ourselves as wizards for selecting him ; but 
we are blind to the fact that, if put at the same 
tasks on the flat — racing over a distance of two 
miles or more — he might have developed pre- 
cisely similar ability ; and if we give him the 
chance, and the needful preparation, we not im- 
probably find that our 'chaser is fairly shifty at 
the " legitimate " game. It would be interesting 
to see one of our best cross-country horses spec- 
ially prepared for one of the fall long-distance 
flat races ; he would, not improbably, give a re- 
markably good account of himself 

Was it Whyte-Melville who called attention 
to the fact that in every case, after a long and 
exhausting run with hounds, the men " present 
or accounted for" were invariably mounted upon 
little horses, old horses, and thoroughbred horses ? 

183 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

The " thoroughbred " and the " old " are quite 
matter-of-course, since no mongrel and no baby 
can do a well-bred man's work ; but there is 
much significance in the " little " part of it, — 
probably under 15.2 in contradistinction to the 
huge beasts that buyers will seek for, whether 
for hacking, hunting, or steeplechasing. What 
is there about a big horse that is so valuable ? 
Does the elephant carry weight proportionate to 
his bulk and tallness ? Surely not. And does 
not the flea jump many times his own height ? 
The big horse has generally proved a failure at 
steeplechasing ; our cramped and almost circular 
courses are all against him and his long stride, 
and the fences come too close together. Again, 
if he hits one of them — at the pace our cross- 
country events are run — he jars himself to 
pieces, and if once off his stride, he is apt to drop 
right out of it. He is also harder on his legs, 
and consequently more difficult to get thoroughly 
fit than a smaller animal ; he does not carry 
weight any better ; he adds to his prospective 
handicap imposts because the handicapper cannot 
forget that he looks big and able ; he does n't 
make the fences look smaller, because some of 
them are of miniature proportions now ; he de- 

184 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

velops and comes to his full powers much later ; 
he is dearer to buy; he eats (or let's hope he 
does) more than the " little un ; " he weighs 
more when he rolls over you ; he has everything 
against him, and nothing in his favor, except the 
fact that he " looks the part ; " but how many 
failures do that, and how many " cracks " do not ? 

These characteristics an embryo 'chaser must 
have : he must gallop rather high ; he must flex 
his hocks ; he should have a fairly good shoulder ; 
and that extra length in back, and freedom in loin 
which is so generally decried and rejected, and 
without which no horse has the requisite liberty 
and length to properly "use himself" at the 
task. Long below and short above is all very 
well, but get the length, anyway. 

With a long hill (the longer and steeper the 
better), a fence, and a ditch you can condition any 
horse that is passing sound, and if he hath in- 
firmities the more does this afford appropriate 
environment. Trot up and walk back ; canter 
up and walk down ; thighs, loins, all the jumping 
and galloping muscles developing at every stride, 
and wind and heart gaining strength steadily. 
Take a horse, so trained, to one of our steeple- 
chase courses and he will show a performance un- 

185 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

expectedly good ; and whatever puts him down, 
it will not be weak or tired jumping muscles. 
We eternally exercise and gallop horses, under 
light weights, over dead flat roads and race tracks, 
and then marvel that they fall or are beaten off 
in their races; nothing so confuses true " form " 
in 'chasing as this fact. If one has not a hill, an 
ordinary horse power, such as is used for thresh- 
ing machines, is excellent; and any horse will go 
kindly in (and out) of it if he is fed in it a few 
times before it is started up, and then moved 
slowly at first. An hour or so daily at this work 
will do wonders in developing muscles one never 
realized a horse had. 

It is an excellent arrangement, if schooling 
fences can be so placed that a horse jumps them 
as a matter of course on his return from his work, 
and thus clears from four to six fences unaware 
that he is being educated. Of course you can 
handle him like a hunter — and hunt him as well 
— if convenient ; but the dwelling style of a good 
hunter is the last habit you want your tyro to 
acquire, and the trick may recur to him some fine 
day when the "money is down," and he thus 
loses the all-important length or two, too near 
home to again make it up. You do not want 

i86 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

him to jump clear over anything, either, as that 
entails waste of power, but to " hear his feet 
rattle " at every fence, as an assurance that not an 
inch too much is essayed. All his leaps will be 
regulation fences — banks, brush, water, and that 
idiotic " Liverpool," the most senseless, useless, 
trifling, un-American contraption ever incorpo- 
rated in requirements. Of these he will find cer- 
tainly ten inches flimsy brush, so that if he clearly 
and with certainty jumps three feet six inches the 
fence is not built on American courses that will 
put him down, nor is there anything to be gained 
by asking him to jump higher, by more than an 
inch or two. Some of our 'chasing enthusiasts 
perpetually school their horses over larger fences ; 
but the returns do not show that they profit by 
it — either owners or charges — but rather the 
reverse ; nothing is more irksome than rehearsal 
when the actor knows himself letter perfect ; 
some of these everlasting schoolmasters kill and 
maim not a few of their animals, while the balance 
of them fall about as often as those more leniently 
treated. 

The variety of jumps advised and legalized by 
the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association 
is sparse, and the obstacles are not those which, 

187 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

in this country, are ever met with in the hunting 
field. As " hunters " are, by use of a pious 
fiction, supposed to race over these courses, they 
are described as " fair hunting country " — than 
which nothing wider from the truth and the actual 
facts can be imagined. Not only are our steeple- 
chase fences unfair, in that they do not in the 
very remotest degree resemble any American 
fence, but they are practically rarely built in 
accordance with the instructions issued by the 
N. S. & H. A. They are principally banks, 
brush jumps, and a so-called " Liverpool." This 
latter is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and is, even 
in the country of its origin (England), held up to 
daily vituperation alike by public, press, owners, 
and riders. Over it a shocking number of horses 
have been fatally injured, although it must be 
owned that such results have not so regularly ob- 
tained here, wherefore this criticism is restricted to 
condemnation of it as absurd and useless because 
it is not of national character. Rails, walls, slat- 
fences, brooks, board fences, etc., are legitimate 
obstacles, and those to be met with in riding 
across any American country. To these ab- 
solutely should our jumps be restricted; nor is 
there any reason for the adoption of other styles, 

i88 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

and imitation of what is English. Our water 
jumps are as trifling as the other obstacles, and 
contain hardly enough liquid to make a splash 
when a horse lands in them. Again, from the 
circular nature of our courses, the field is always 
bunched close to the inside flags, and one can 
hardly find a footprint twenty feet out from 
them ; thus making the going not unusually 
cuppy and rough on the inside of the course, 
and rendering the higher action more useful, in 
fact essential, than the " daisy cutting." 

Whatever hunting a horse may have done — and 
at whatever pace he may have been ridden — you 
find, when it comes to steeplechasing, that it has 
not advanced his preparation to any great extent. 
This is assuming that the runs have been at the 
usual hunting pace ; for, of course, if the drag is 
laid so that hounds get through bar-ways, etc., 
and if they are fast, the hunt will present all the 
incidents of a 'chase ; and a horse may fly his 
fences, and charge them at full speed, perforce 
gaining thereby the finest kind of experience. 
At the hunting game, however, he learns only to 
be clever, and too suspicious and careful — the 
very virtues (in your hunter) which are the most 
objectionable of faults (in your steeplechaser). 

189 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

Your 'chaser cannot be too bold, nor too rash ; 
he should never (if you can help it) think he can 
fall, and be willing to go anywhere that he is 
headed without hesitation, and to take any and 
every chance ; for with our fields always crowded 
at the fences, and the patrol judges and stewards 
overlooking much jostling, a cowardly horse has 
no chance, and the first bump puts him out of 
the game. For this reason the horse that leads 
the pupil in his work must be as bold as a lion at 
all times, and go flying at everything without 
hesitation. A shifty, dodging, propping old 
rascal that begins to hang and swerve the moment 
a fence heaves in view is the last schoolmaster 
the youngster should follow ; and, in fact, the 
young 'chaser should always jump his fences 
either lapped on, or head and head with, his 
mates ; head and head at first, because, if half a 
length or more back, the green one will take oiF 
when the horse in front does (possibly) have just 
that much farther to spring and get a bad fall in 
consequence. This jumping in company is most 
essential, because it makes the pupil look out for 
himself and get used to the rush and turmoil of 
horses all about (and upon) him, and teaches him 
to time his eye and his muscles to act indepen- 

190 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

dently of others. How often you see two horses 
in a 'chase come to a fence, and the one not quite 
up — half a length or so back — come a " regular 
buster," because he gets confused and takes off 
when the other does. 

The novice should always wear the very easiest 
bit that will restrain and guide him ; and the vari- 
ous combinations of the snaffle-bit are most use- 
ful, as anything Hke a curb has the tendency to 
make him fight it and gallop too high. A rail 
should be put down in front of every schooling 
jump, which will make him " stand away " at his 
fences, and if this imitates the guard-rail of the 
" Liverpool " he will jump that monstrosity the 
first time he ever sees it, and quite as a matter of 
course. He should never be schooled over this 
fence (that is, " Liverpool "), however, for, if con- 
structed according to the rules, it has an awesome 
aspect, and many a promising young horse has 
been ruined for the job by allowing him to get 
frightened at a fence he never should have seen 
until his blood was up and he went to it in com- 
pany with other horses in a race. If the guard- 
rail is down in front of every fence, he treats them 
all alike, and one has no more trouble with him 
at the ditch than at any other fence. Horses 

191 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

need little or no schooling at water-jumps, either. 
A green horse may " prop " ^ little before a 
water-jump in a race, but he is going too fast to 
stop, and is over before he knows. If he learns 
to refuse in his preliminary work, however, he 
can never be depended upon, and he can, if scien- 
tific, come at his fence at a tremendous rate, and 
still stop dead, or whip 'round. 

The long-hill trots and canters are the things, 
and if he can wind up by jumping a few fences on 
his way to the stable, he is learning his business 
and getting fit to perform it at one and the same 
time, and with the best will in the world. 

The thoroughbred novice will generally prove, 
or seem to prove, himself rather timorous at first. 
Of course, as a matter of fact, he is exactly the 
reverse, but all his preliminary education, if com- 
ing from a flat-racing stable, has taught him the 
wisdom of doing as little as he possibly can when 
outdoors. His carelessness and indifference re- 
sult generally from that fact, and also from the 
superior intelligence which leads him to be suspi- 
cious of novelties and cautious to a fault. Gener- 
ally, he is a shockingly bad performer at all paces 
except full speed ; he misunderstands the position 
of your hands when you start to canter, as a sig- 

192 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

nal to " go along " (as it was in racing days), and 
takes an awkward hold of you ; he usually has one 
side to his mouth; he "goes about" with the 
deliberation of a line-of-battle ship, and needs as 
much sea room ; he kicks up every pebble, and 
stubs his toe on every straw and cigarette butt in 
the road. All this he must give up ; and riding 
him over all sorts of rough ground helps action and 
agility, as suitable bitting and riding into his 
bridle improves mouth and paces. Your gawky, 
shambling, three or four year old learns deport- 
ment quickly, and is vastly more adaptable to 
changed conditions, because of superior intelli- 
gence, than a colder-blooded horse. 

He should always be well bandaged when 
schooling, and there should be no stubs nor any- 
thing likely to scratch his thin skin in your school- 
ing fences, and he should always go to the " left 
about" over them, as all our 'chases are run that 
way. He will prove most probably a " shy " 
doer when he gets really into work, and his fickle 
appetite must be tempted in the peculiar ways 
that suit him best, and which only experience will 
determine. At best the thoroughbred rarely eats 
as much as other horses. He may love compan- 
ionship, and to see other horses at all times in 
13 193 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the stable ; he may prefer solitude, being of mis- 
anthropic temperament; he may be a "night- 
feeder," or prefer to steal his grain, finding a few 
handfuls here and there in the straw of his box ; 
he may have a thousand fancies, but if he is to 
prove a good horse they must be divined and 
provided for. These little things make all the 
difference. If walking, galloping, scraping, and 
schooling were the essentials, training would be 
too easy. When asked how he trained his won- 
derfully successful string, the very excellent hand- 
ler laconically replied, "In the stable;" and that 
is about four-fifths of the whole business. 

There are many high-strung horses which fear 
the crowd of a race-track, and fret away to noth- 
ing during the twenty minutes or so they are in 
the paddock. They will outgrow it if taken to 
that enclosure every day, and kept walking there 
for an hour or so. They fear, not the people, but 
the race which has always proved an accompani- 
ment, and their dread disappears with familiarity. 
Such horses ought to be stabled away from the 
track, and will rarely bear, undisturbed, any pre- 
liminaries in the way of "setting short" before a 
race, but are best left to run without preliminary 
" readying." 

194 



THE STEEPLECHASER 

If every thoroughbred yearling were broken to 
harness, and exercised "in leather," as a general 
thing it is quite sure that there would be better 
results, and that they would keep sound longer. 
For one thing they would be vastly better mouthed 
and mannered, because they would be handled by 
men, and not by mischievous boys ; for another, 
because they would be kept on the roads, and 
away from the deadly monotony of eternal track 
and shed work ; for a third, because they would 
do their work more calmly and collectedly, and 
would use different sets of muscles ; for a fourth, 
because they are more salable afterwards (and a 
thoroughbred's road-horse qualities, though first 
class, are totally ignored) ; and, for lots of other 
reasons, every venture in this line has proved 
highly successful. Horses hold their flesh much 
better — important in this trying climate — and 
steeplechasers as a general thing need vastly more 
flesh than they are allowed to carry, and are more 
often too light than the reverse. 

With plenty of hill and road work, a cross- 
country horse needs very few fast gallops over a 
distance of ground. A few spins at four furlongs 
or so, to make sure he has his speed on edge, is 
enough, unless he is a very gross horse; and if he 

^95 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

handles himself ably against the watch, is nicely- 
schooled, hard and full muscled, bright, and eat- 
ing and doing well, he is as good as hands can 
probably make him, and ready to appear under 
silk. He may fall, or " run green," and he will 
probably have to learn the " tricks of the trade " 
generally, before he becomes a safe betting propo- 
sition ; but, beaten or not, he will have a better 
foundation for future operations than many of his 
seemingly formidable competitors. 



196 



Chapter XIV 

RIDING FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN 

THE woman's saddle-horse must be 
good-looking, — the mere fact that 
he is so generally proves him pos- 
sessed of a harmony of parts which 
insures his being able-bodied and suitable for 
work ; he must be active, good-natured ; he must 
bend his hocks well — as must any saddle-horse, 
in order to insure ease and pleasure in riding at 
the trot ; he must " bridle well," that is, bend 
his neck, and carry his head perpendicularly ; he 
must have a nice oblique shoulder; bold and 
high withers ; should be a trifle long in the back, 
— longer than is generally acceptable in a man's 
riding horse — in order that additional elasticity 
may be insured, and that there may be that extra 
length, which the long and broad woman's saddle 
renders necessary for appearance and for utility. 
He should walk fast and square ; trot freely and 
level ; and canter — always right foot first — at 

197 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

a touch of the rider's heel ; or its effect may- 
be transferred to a tap of the whip on the 
off-shoulder, and the signal prove equally intel- 
ligible after a little practice. Light colors (grays 
or roans) are bad, because the hairs show on a 
dark habit ; and a horse with few white mark- 
ings, or none, is also less conspicuous and more 
" genteel." 

No horse is safe for a woman to ride unless he 
will stand still and allow her to mount from the 
ground without assistance ; and no woman should 
ever be allowed to ride alone until she can per- 
form this very simple feat ; can put on, or read- 
just, her own saddle and bridle, and know when 
others have placed and fitted them properly. As 
she aspires to be independent, so must she be 
prepared, in every way, to take care of herself; 
and upon the heads of her male relatives be it if 
she is not properly instructed and taught how to 
perform the simple duties needed. Every horse 
shrinks after an hour or so at exercise, and the 
saddle may turn at any moment in consequence, 
thereby endangering others, possibly, as well as the 
rider. An ounce of prevention is most valuable 
here, and the equestrienne should know how to re- 
girth and arrange her saddle if necessity arises. 

198 







o 
o 

O 

o 



■ ■ .) " i 



-1. ; 



.1! 



RIDING FOR WOMEN 

Preserve us from the self-sufficient female who 
" knows it all," who " Always rode with popper 
from the time I could walk." " Popper " prob- 
ably was one of the vast army whose equine 
experiences and knowledge of equestrianism were 
of the vaguest, and as long as Maude neither 
broke her neck, nor killed anybody else, he was 
more than satisfied — and had better reasons so 
to be than probably he appreciated ! Anything 
that is worth doing is worth taking pains to per- 
form to the best advantage, and to nothing does 
this so much apply as to feminine equestrianism 
and the general carriage and attitude. A woman 
is accepted by the public as a good or bad per- 
former solely upon her appearance. She may be 
a perfect horsewoman, but if she looks shiftless, 
sits carelessly, dresses haphazard, she will never 
class among the experts as will her smart, neat, 
correct sister, who cannot really ride at all — but 
who " looks the part." Riding schools and compe- 
tent instructors are to be found everywhere now- 
adays, and no woman has any excuse for appear- 
ing other than at her very best upon horseback, 
and nowhere when properly, snugly, and neatly 
" turned out," does she seem more attractive. 

Proper costume, equipment, and other details 
199 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

would afford material for a book, and there is 
space here to touch but upon the merest out- 
lines of the fascinating art. 

Hair should be tightly confined ; derby or 
sailor hat securely fitted and fastened ; corsets 
loose ; riding knickerbockers roomy, but snug at 
knees ; better kept down by a band going under 
the foot (inside the boot) which does away with 
all buttons. The habit should be very smart, 
and no matter what else you economize on, go 
to a first-class maker for it, or for the skirt, any- 
how. A high collar and plain tie; large, loose 
gloves ; boots or gaiters ; no flowers, ribbons, or 
anything superfluous ; a useful straight whip, and 
not a useless crop, and you are ready. 

Your saddle should be flat-seated, and you 
cannot — if it is of this shape — get it too long ; 
it will fit any one else, tall or short. No saddle 
should ever be made any other shape, and would 
not be if the public would insist. There is more 
money in it for saddlers, if the model is such 
that each person must be fitted and refitted with 
increasing stature and weight. A child, and a 
tall, stout woman can use the same saddle, if the 
seat is flat. 

Any one can put you on your horse, but learn 
200 



RIDING FOR WOMEN 

to get up yourself from the ground, not off a 
chair or fence. Your stirrup girth should go 
round the horse and buckle to a strap affixed to 
the cantle (the back) upon the off side, so that 
you can, when mounted, reach it with your right 
hand, and lengthen or shorten it at pleasure. Let 
it down now six or eight holes so that you can, 
when standing, put your left foot in the stirrup. 
Grasp the pommel in the left hand, the cantle 
in right; swing up, and, as you stand in the 
stirrup, shift right hand to pommel, twist your 
body to face the horse's ears, and sit down ; put 
your right knee over pommel, take up your 
stirrup strap to proper place, put the elastic over 
your right heel, etc., to keep skirt down, and 
pull that nicely straight, and you are ready to 
proceed. Practise this until you can do it with 
celerity ; when dismounting, clear elastics from 
heels and skirt from pommel, swing to the left 
face, take pommel in right hand, and slide off. 

Remember that nature gave you two hands, 
and be quite sure that, if you ride much, you 
will at times need them both and probably wish 
for a few more. Don't hold your reins in one 
hand — you are neither military, nor paralyzed 
in the right ; reins held in each hand insure the 

20I 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

shoulders being square ; in one, their being 
crooked, and the seat askew, after the muscles 
tire. Take the reins in both hands, therefore, 
and if you are a beginner have only one rein, 
and that attached to a large and easy leather or 
snaffle-bit. You are going to prove an awful 
nuisance to your mount for the next ten days — 
make him as comfortable as you can. Let this 
rein come through the whole hand from outside 
the little fingers ; shut your thumb on it where it 
goes over the first fingers ; close your fists, and 
learn to keep them closed, not by hauling upon 
the reins, but by using the muscles given for the 
purpose of shutting your hand. When you can 
ride for thirty minutes and keep your reins in 
their places, you have made a big advance, and 
one most people never make in a lifetime. 

Take the pommel exactly in the bend of the 
right knee. Have your stirrup at a height that 
allows three fingers, or two inches, between your 
left knee and the leaping horn ; carry your left 
foot back and keep your heel down ; bring your 
right heel also back against the left shin, and 
cultivate with care this position at every pace, for 
upon it depends your security. This constitutes 
your seat, yet few women have it correctly and 

202 



RIDING FOR WOMEN 

the right foot sticks out like a bowsprit on a 
ship, generally forced to this attitude because the 
saddle is too short ; the knee plays over the 
right pommel instead of holding it exactly and 
firmly in the angle for the same reason ; and be- 
cause the pupil does not sit up, with hollowed 
waist, as she should. If you have the true seat 
you can — without stirrups — rise at the trot ; or 
leap, etc., and be (unless the saddle chance to 
turn) infinitely more secure than a man. 

You should proceed at a walk only for two or 
three days ; and for only thirty minutes or so at 
each time, during which practise lying flat down 
on the horse's back, both when standing and 
moving, bending far over to each side forward 
and backward, gaining all the confidence possible. 
When beginning to trot, ride "close seat" (that 
is, do not rise) at least for a week, and pay great 
attention to sitting square, hollowing the waist, 
and inclining to the right (always be able to see 
the horse's right foot). Never allow more than 
the weight of the foot in the stirrup. 

When ready to learn to rise take the reins in 
the left hand, the off-pommel in the right ; lean a 
little forward from the waist ; when the horse gets 
trotting steadily begin to count, or have a friend 

203 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

to say, " One, two, three," one count at each 
step or cadence, and as you feel the impulse 
upward press in the stirrup with the left foot ; 
on the ofF-pommel with the hand ; and use the 
right knee as a fulcrum — as if the thigh were a 
jackknife blade that hinged at the pommel of the 
saddle. By these means and by this counting — 
each count (as " one ") marking the rise, and 
return, in readiness for the next cadence — the 
" posting " is very easy to acquire, and in three or 
four trials you will rise steadily and without effort 
at the trot. Always remember to lean well to 
the right, watch your horse's off forefoot and re- 
member that your knee on the pommel, and not 
your foot in the stirrup, must be regarded as the 
lever which enables you to thus rise and fall. 

Do not try to begin to rise the moment 
the horse starts to trot; "sit close" until 
he is underway and stepping evenly ; do not 
try too hard to rise, but let the horse put you up ; 
"sit close" again a few strides before he comes 
back to a walk. In pulling up lean back from the 
waist and never forward over your hands, as so 
many do. 

To canter, sit still and erect ; raise your left 
heel, until your left knee is up snugly under the 

204 



RIDING FOR WOMEN 

leaping horn, and both horns in the grasp of your 
two knees ; lean over the horse's right shoulder, 
and as you thus sway, bring your left foot against 
his ribs, and just move the bits in his mouth ; or 
you may touch him down the ofF-shouIder with 
your whip so that he may associate the signal of 
heel and stick, and canter finally from the whip- 
tap alone. He should lead with his right, and if 
he does not you will immediately notice it; pull 
up and start again. Keep him up to the bit, that 
he may bend and collect himself, as he must to 
canter comfortably for you, and do not let him 
go so fast that he gallops. It will be hard for 
you to make him nicely perform this pace until 
equipped with the " full bridle," that is, bit and 
bridoon, and in two weeks from your beginning 
you may probably be promoted to this combina- 
tion of bits and reins. 

Most people hold the curb reins inside, and 
the snaffle outside the little finger (that is, in two- 
handed riding ; the writer neither advocates nor 
will describe one-handed riding, which is utterly 
unnecessary, and an absurd affectation in civilian 
equestrianism). The writer holds the curb out- 
side the little finger of each hand ; the snaffle (or 
bridoon) between that finger and the third ; all 

205 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

reins going through the hands, over the first 
finger, and being firmly held there by the thumbs. 
Thus arranged, knuckles up, the bridoon is 
chiefly operative, and the horse faces that as he 
should, except when cantering ; a mere turn of the 
wrist to thumbs up, however, and the curb (the 
bit) comes into play through holding the knuckles 
perpendicular, and the manipulation of either 
hand and any rein is independent. The writer 
does not attempt to say which method is right, but 
gives his own and the reasons for its preference. 

Leaping will not be treated of here ; that is ex- 
clusively the affair of the girl and her male rela- 
tives. If they can, after looking at a side-saddle, 
view with equanimity the possibility of a fallen 
animal caparisoned with those formidable pom- 
mels, rolling upon the prostrate form of wife or 
sister, it is their privilege to allow the casualty to 
be tempted. 

Ride your horse with hand, whip, and heel, and 
except for the "whoa!" which should mean in- 
stant stop and stand, never speak to him. People 
who do that sort of thing are a nuisance and a 
menace ; their eternal chirping is affecting every 
horse in hearing. In the same way practise stop- 
ping your horse, and making him stand still any- 

206 



RIDING FOR WOMEN 

where, not by soothing (?) words, etc., but by 
hand manipulation of the mouth. Can you do 
this ? Try and see, and if not, why do you fail ? 
Remember your escort, and when he dismounts 
to make some change, etc., in your equipment, 
do not have him running after you all over the 
street while you vainly try to stand still and wait 
for him. Rehearse this most essential accomp- 
lishment. Make your horse back properly ; 
practise opening gates, barways, etc., from his 
back ; in short, equip yourself in all methods 
to be a companion to those who ride with you, 
and not a burden, and neglect no details that 
will make you independent of any escort or 
assistance. 

Children, boys and girls alike, should all learn 
to ride astride, and the day is coming when the 
ridiculous, unwieldy, and unworkmanlike side- 
saddle will be as much a curiosity as is that of 
"Good Queen Bess" in the British Museum. 
Women of all ages should ride astride ; it is 
practical, modest, graceful, and safe, although it 
is not probable that for the average equestrienne 
the ordinary man's saddle will meet every require- 
ment of comfort and safety, and it is upon this 
feeling of assurance that the adoption of the 

207 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

fashion largely depends. For riding astride, a 
woman's saddle should have a good roll to the 
knee-pad, and probably another behind the thigh 
would be a help. Some modification of the Aus- 
tralian " bush " saddle would seem best to meet 
the requirements, and it is likely that, as the 
change finds general favor, such a saddle will be 
used. It is like the ordinary English shape, save 
that it has large pads in just the proper places for 
feminine needs, these cushions being useful in sit- 
ting the " buck-jumpers " abundant in that coun- 
try. 

The pony should be thin through between the 
knees of the rider, if the child begins very young, 
as he should not, seven being quite young enough. 
A pad of steam felting, cut saddle-shape, and 
girthed on with a plain surcingle, is the best 
arrangement for juvenile beginners, as it gives 
the little legs a chance to get close to the animal's 
sides. The small ponies are generally such little 
pigs, mentally and physically, that nothing is to 
be gained from their use, and the small and 
narrow horse of 14.2 or so is better, gent- 
ler, and safer. After a few weeks of the pad, 
with easy bit, etc., for the horse (special attention 
being paid to square shoulders, and the natural 

208 



RIDING FOR WOMEN 

erect carriage which the hollowed waist insures), 
the child may advance to a saddle without stir- 
rups (and finally with), and these should always be 
open, large, and heavy, and the child's foot carried 
" home " in them, that is, through to the instep. 
The reason for this is that if the stirrup is held at 
the ball of the foot, and any accident happens, the 
foot may go either way, probably through ; but 
if it is worn " home," the jar and twitch in falling 
will almost surely throw it out. No jockeys or 
huntsmen, always riding " home," are ever hung 
up and dragged ; soldiers and civilians who insert 
only the toe and the ball of the foot, are frequently 
so caught. This point is most important, and 
worthy careful investigation. 

Children should always be superintended in 
their rides. They are mischievous, and when 
the novelty palls, attempt all sorts of strange 
experiments with their mounts which may cause 
bad accidents, or they may bully and punish their 
charges to a cruel extent. A finished saddle-horse 
is not needed in learning equestrianism ; in fact, 
if one begins with a rough gaited animal, and 
gets along fairly well with him, further advance 
will be rendered much easier when promoted to 
the handling of an accomplished hack. The 
'4- 209 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

pupil who rides all sorts, takes them as they come, 
and strives to make the best of them, will learn 
vastly more of practical equestrianism in twenty 
lessons than she who rides the same perfectly 
trained steed every day for a year. 



2IO 



Chapter XV 

FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

IF one listen to the average Instructor In the 
art of driving four-In-hand, or If he read 
the books and articles written upon the 
subject, he will become firmly imbued with 
the mistaken Idea that this accomplishment Is 
most difficult to acquire, and most complicated to 
apply, whereas It is one of the very simplest feats 
known to equestrianism. Professionals, however 
expert, are generally Inapt at explaining lucidly 
the " whys " and " wherefores," the " wrong " and 
the "right" of the undertaking, and naturally, 
since they have their living to make by such in- 
struction, it follows that there Is no effort made 
at undue haste, the object being to carry the 
pupil along as slowly as possible, and always to 
leave some further points for experiment In order 
that the course of lessons may run to as great a 
length as possible. 

Again, the average " pro " has been taught by 
rule of thumb, and has neither inclination nor 

211 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

much opportunity to inquire into, or practise 
other methods. He has been made to do thus 
and so because — well, because that was "the 
right way to do it," and his teachings run along 
similar lines. He also fears ridicule if he depart 
from the narrow limits of established usage, and 
so do his pupils ; hence they are as keen as is he 
in the matter of discouraging any innovations. 

Books and articles upon four-horse and tandem 
driving err in the same way ; instead of setting 
forth fairly the advantages and disadvantages of 
different methods, they one and all follow the 
dead level of what the ancient road-coach chario- 
teers are supposed to have done ; and there is no 
spark of originality to any of their recommenda- 
tions. They may all be right, but why are they 
so? And why is any other fashion wrong? The 
limits afforded here are narrow for what might 
well be made an elaborate treatise with diagrams, 
etc., but if one will experiment, one will find that 
there are more ways than one to hold reins, 
arrange loops and points, catch thongs, etc., and 
realize that the term " correct form " is purely 
arbitrary, and that it is quite possible to achieve 
results in various ways, and yet to appear " cor- 
rect " so far as workmanlike performance goes. 

212 




3 
O 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

Why not be independent and original in all 
things, thinking and acting for one's self, heeding 
advice when found good, but following only that 
which common-sense and unbiased experiment 
prove to be most natural and most practical ? 

The main thing about driving four-in-hand is 
to get up and drive four horses, learning by ex- 
perience and profiting by mistakes. The man 
who does this and persistently keeps at it, with 
all kinds of teams, will make a far more genu- 
inely good coachman than he of rule-of-thumb 
methods and so-called scientific theories and 
fancy touches. There is just so much good 
material to every dress ; the rest is trimmings, 
frills, and fallals, like the absurd " opposition 
loops " on thumb, finger, and wrist, which so 
many of our " flash " amateur and professional 
whips essay. These gentry go through as many 
manoeuvres in turning a corner as if they were 
playing a fiddle in a street band, though it will 
be noticed that they generally take to such antics 
only when the team is very " unanimous " and 
knows the way, and the driver knows the way 
and knows the horses know " the way." Other- 
wise, like the poor girl in the song, whose " shoes 
were full of feet," the steersman's " hands will be 

213 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

full of reins " at the last moment, and he will 
not improbably regret that he has not at liberty 
three pairs (of hands), a set of feet, and a mouth- 
ful of teeth to keep him out of trouble and steer 
him away from the impending curbstone and 
lamp post. 

Holding the reins over four horses and escap- 
ing calamity by the aid of good luck is not 
driving four-in-hand, by a long way, however 
much your instructor and your vanity may strive 
to persuade to the contrary ; nor is handling 
always the same steady, quiet team likely to ad- 
vance you very far, as the first " raw " lot you 
chance to take hold of will prove. There is 
nothing to be said for and much to be argued 
against the keeping of a regular team. Horses, if 
they suit each other and are properly " put to," 
will go as well the first time they ever see each 
other as they will afterward ; and constant change 
affords incessant practice. A real coachman can 
get along with anything, and however queer, 
they " all look alike to " him. As proper " put- 
ting to " is a matter of practice for each individ- 
ual combination of horses and driver, we may 
pass over that part of it, only pausing to remark 
that all teams, once started, should be given time 

214 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

to settle and to show you possibly how they like 
things ; they may have reasons which you don't 
appreciate (and be right at that). Above all 
things, don't be eternally changing couplings, 
bittings, and bits. One very well-known ama- 
teur carries in his coach a bag of all sorts of bits, 
and the occasion that does not find him changing 
them two or three times all round is marked as a 
day lost. If horses drive pleasantly in simple 
combination, let it go at that, and never provoke 
trouble that you could have avoided, or tamper 
with mouths already amenable. 

The horses " put to," wheelers well poled up, 
and both pairs coupled close (for a beginner, as 
they turn and stop more easily), we come to 
the reins and their manipulation. The conven- 
tional method, acceptably correct, is to place the 
near lead over the left forefinger, the off lead 
between the first and second fingers ; the nigh 
wheel between the same two fingers, and below 
the off leud, and the off wheel between the sec- 
ond and third fingers. The only advantage of 
this method is that you may take either pair back 
a trifle more easily than in any other way, but 
only a very trifle, and an immaterial one. The 
loopings are made by taking the desired rein in 

215 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the right hand, and drawing it back, making 
the rein thereby short enough to accompHsh the 
intended turn, and confining it between the 
thumb and finger or the other fingers, according 
to which rein you loop. This loop is let gradu- 
ally slip as your curve is made, and you desire 
your team to resume straight going. " Opposi- 
tion loops" are similarly made upon the opposite 
wheel rein in order to keep your wheelers in 
their place, to prevent their following the leaders 
too directly, and to insure describing the graceful 
curve you aim to accomplish. These loopings, 
direct point and opposition, are made in the same 
way when the reins are held in any one of the 
several other methods. In one of these the nigh 
lead goes over the forefinger ; the nigh wheel 
and the off wheel between the first and second 
fingers, the nigh rein on top, and the off lead 
between the second and third fingers. This 
method separates the two lead reins by a wide 
margin, and quite sharp angles can be made and 
corners turned without any looping, or touching 
the reins with the right, if the wrist is carried 
right or left, and the knuckles or the palm turned 
up or down, as the case demands. The off-lead 
rein crosses the off-wheel rein close to the toe- 

216 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

board, but this is rather an advantage, as, with a 
pulHng team, a turn of the wrist gives one when 
going straight an extra purchase by the shght 
binding of the reins. Another method separates 
all the reins with a finger between each ; and still 
another separates the two wheel reins by the 
second finger, while the nigh lead comes over the 
forefinger as usual, but the off comes in outside 
of the little finger, and through the " whole 
hand." This makes looping difficult, but gives 
such scope to wrist turn and movement that prac- 
tically loops are almost unnecessary. Still an- 
other method treats the wheel reins like the lead, 
in the case just cited, while the wheel reins " come 
home " as do the lead in the same case. Origi- 
nally it is said that the wheel reins were made 
just long enough to reach the hand, and that 
their loop was taken in the " full hand," the op- 
position being made by sliding the hand either 
way. A not improbable objection to this was 
said to be the fact that, if a wheeler fell he pulled 
the Jehu off his box, which result certainly had 
its drawbacks, especially if the " monkey on a 
stick " attitude, so fashionable on the box to-day, 
was accepted as correct then. With all its dis- 
advantages it was found very difficult to make 

217 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the jeunesse doree of those days abandon this 
method, showing that fad is not entirely a modern 
development. The second and third plans are 
most useful if reins are to be taken in both 
hands, as occasionally they must be, since they 
are so placed that separation into rights and lefts 
is easy. However, perhaps that consideration is 
immaterial, as while we ridicule an equestrian 
who does not ride his one horse with two hands, 
we jeer more loudly at the charioteer who does 
not drive four horses with one hand. Which 
method you elect to use is for your personal 
preference to decide. They all have advantages 
and drawbacks ; they are all practical and proper. 
" Opposition " looping is a delusion and a 
snare. The best opposition is a turn of the 
wrist, and the carrying of it right or left if your 
wheelers are mouthed and mannerly ; if not a 
touch of the thong on the proper wheeler's shoul- 
der prevents all trouble, or your right hand may 
come to your assistance if needed. You have two 
hands, why not use them ? or you may " oppose " 
with the toe of your boot if you like ; undoubt- 
edly the old-timers did, for with their thick reins 
and low-grade, generally worn-out horses, no 
other " opposition " but that of whip and main 

2i8 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

strength was possible. Leave the fancy " stunts " 
to those who drive for " the gallery," and be sure 
that a genuine heavy-headed, tired, or awkward 
western " bull " will play havoc with the most 
scientific " opposition " loops ever constructed. 
If you wish to play with these toys, you may 
" put them on " either between the fingers, caught 
over the thumb, or round the wrist according to 
what you guess the resistance will be; but noth- 
ing will be said of the details here, as they are not 
practically useful, but merely tricks ; you had as 
well practise " opposing " round your own neck 
or the box-seat's off ear. 

There are many diflferent ways to catch your 
thong ; the main thing is to catch it every time, 
and without effort. Keep it always soft and 
pliant, or it is a nuisance. If you've never prac- 
tised it, just take a whip, balance it nicely, the 
end of the thong in your hand; don't look at it 
and make as if to throw your whip away to the 
right, but stop it suddenly as about to leave your 
hand — probably the thong is there when you 
look. Never " meet " it with the stick, as you 
will if you look at it, but throw the thong to that. 
A few turns the reverse way before you throw it 
will put a few wraps on the handle, and a kink in 

219 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

the thong that will make it twist and bind better ; 
a few knobs on the stick will make it " catch and 
keep " well. Practise from a horseless coach un- 
til you can hit an imaginary leader (off side or 
near), and always under the bars or on the shoul- 
der in front of the pad, nine times out of ten, and 
always " bring the thong home " with a twist of 
the wrist that will land the end across your chest, 
whence it can be picked off by the fingers, and the 
thong replaced on the stick ; or you may, when 
expert, " draw " the end direct to your fingers. 
When you hit any horse, hit him " for keeps," 
and, if necessary, several times ; if emergency 
arises, and you have, some day, barely time to 
touch him, he will not have forgotten what fol- 
lowed on other occasions, and may prevent acci- 
dent by quick response. Under trees, or in 
traffic it is sometimes handy to put on a " reverse 
thong," and that is done by simply chopping into 
the loop as it hangs, throwing the stick to the 
loop. This method is not considered " good 
form," but as results and appearance are the same 
there is no reason for condemnation. 

The brake is regarded by some drivers — we 
can hardly call them coachmen, for no man can be 
who jeopardizes the safety of others — as a con- 

220 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

trivance to be used only at a pinch, as when the 
load is getting, or has obtained, the best of the 
wheelers on a down grade. They will not use it 
otherwise, but jar the wheel horses to pieces in 
their efforts to hold back a huge load by their 
necks (the breastplates being half the time too 
loose to afford any help), and yet maintain the 
brisk pace demanded ; nor will they apply it 
after pulling up. Surely it was meant for use, 
and certainly it is a labor-saver and a safeguard. 
The " old-timers " did n't have it, we will allow, 
but there were several things they lacked, includ- 
ing ingenuity. Pray do not be led astray by 
such arguments. There has never seemed any 
good reason for working it by hand, except that 
no one likes to incur ridicule through manipula- 
ting it by the foot. The hand lever is in the 
way ; it may entail operation when the hand has 
plenty of other things to attend to, and if it 
" pushes " ( instead of " pulls " ) one must throw 
his weight forward at the very instant when, 
through some emergency, he needs to throw 
it backward in pulling up his team. Is this ordi- 
narily practical ? 

When ready to mount the box, place the reins 
in your left hand, as you are accustomed to hold 

221 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

them ; take each one back separately until you 
just feel your horses' mouths ; with your right 
grasp the two ofF-reins, and carry your off-wheel 
coupling-buckle up to the nigh coupling-buckle, 
letting the off-reins slip through your left hand 
for that purpose. Mount your box and all reins 
will be even, and all horses "in hand." Sit down 
deep and square on the cushion, and put your feet 
fairly forward in an easy position, not cramped 
back against the riser. Give your team " the 
office " to move, and if you suspect either wheel- 
horse of being ungenerous, swing the wheelers a 
step, so that the free horse feels his collar first. 
Many a rogue which has made up his mind to 
either balk, plunge away, or throw himself, is so 
disconcerted by this move that he is underway 
and in his collar before he has time to realize 
what he is doing. Leaders of course never start 
a coach, unless the load is so heavy that all four 
must act. If your road is long, and the team 
getting tired, watch your chances to pick the best 
places, and if a horse drops out of his collar for a 
few strides, let him have his " easy " and get a 
long breath or two ; ease them all round if you 
can manage it. Although, theoretically every 
horse should be in his place and " up and doing " 

222 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

all the way, in practice you will find that It pays 
to nurse them along now and then, especially in 
warm weather, and do not be too persistent with 
thong and voice with an animal that hangs out 
distress signals. Nor is there need to trot eter- 
nally, or to change only by galloping. Walking 
a team gives lots of good practice, and is much 
harder to perform properly than any novice would 
believe. Galloping a team is great fun for you, 
but is not a feat for a light or weak man to at- 
tempt. Horses at speed must " take hold " a 
little to steady themselves, and only weight and 
strength can long stand the strain. The chief 
precaution necessary is to keep the wheel-horses 
galloping in stride ; or, if one strides the shorter, 
make him by a touch of the thong frequently 
change his stride and " get in " with the other 
horse for a stride or two to steady the coach, or 
you will get it swinging and may turn it over. Be 
sure horses are not too fresh when you attempt this 
feat, or they may get away with you, and a runa- 
way four makes nasty handling, as personal ex- 
perience with several has proved. 

The best way to bit a puller is to let somebody 
else bit him, and own him. Still he may be cir- 
cumvented in various ways. The all-round nose- 

223 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

band, a strap with a buckle on one side to shorten 
it, and a few links of curb-chain on each end, 
should always be on the coach. Hook a link in 
the curb-hook of one side, pass it across the chin 
and round the nose, inside the face-pieces ; cross 
the chin again and hook it on the other curb-hook, 
taking up snugly with the buckle. This closes 
the mouth, and with a dropped-bit or a port-bit, 
if needed, is severe. The jaw-strap, a strap linger- 
wide, long enough to go through the mouth, and 
having half a dozen curb-links on each end, is 
excellent for a few times. Hook as before, run 
across chin, through the mouth, and across chin 
again, and hook on the opposite curb-hook. 
These two straps are invaluable. Various ways 
of using cords, etc., savor of the " gyp " dealer, 
and will not be quoted. The much-abused burr 
is invaluable at times, and on certain heavy-headed, 
one-sided, bolting, plunging horses will keep one 
out of many a shop window and off of many a 
sidewalk. 

Driving tandem has always seemed like putting 
two horses in line to accomplish a task which they 
could perform much better abreast. In olden 
times it was doubtless a handy method of getting 
one's hunter to a meet, but its pursuit seems 

224 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

otherwise to possess slight merit. It presents all 
the difficulties and enhances all the dangers attend- 
ant upon driving four, and yet has little of the 
interest attaching to that undertaking. Probably 
no man more surely tempts fate than he who 
thus " takes the air," and may his temerity do 
him that much good. Two four-in-hand leaders 
rarely decide upon the same mode of procedure 
if disposed to be light-hearted, but help keep 
each other straight. Your tandem advance guard, 
however, is open for any kind of deviltry. How 
on earth they ever do manage to lead properly is 
a wonder, and the feel of the traces as they hang 
must in a way act as a guide as to where the wheeler 
is, and which way he means to go, for half the 
time the lead reins are slack. That was a wise 
nagsman indeed, who, asked as he drove out of 
the archway which way he was going, up or down, 
replied : " Blowed if I know till I get into the 
street; " and that's the worst of tandem driving, 
one " can't pretty much always tell " what will 
befall the next moment. If tandems must be 
driven it is to be hoped that the fad will change 
and allow breechings to be worn on wheel harness. 
To ask a poor brute to hold back by his tail and 
withers a thousand-pound cart carrying possibly 
^5 225 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

eight hundred pounds of human beings ( if four 
ride), and that down hills and with a leader to 
possibly snatch him onto his knees, is inhuman, 
and the S. P. C. A. might well take a hand. If 
through any of these reasons your wheeler does 
chance to fall, you will certainly find the landing 
on your head and knees on stones or macadam 
most unpleasant, and that is where you must 
bring up. Undeterred by these prospects and 
difficulties, it is a curious fact that pretty well any 
one will get up and try to drive a tandem, where- 
as if a four is offered they respectfully decline ; 
the latter task being infinitely more easy of ac- 
complishment. 

There are many performances which one may 
go through with by himself, or with a friend to 
prompt, that will forward him vastly in the art of 
driving a team. Driving figure eights at a walk 
and trot (finally holding the reins in one hand 
only, and making all turns by moving the fore- 
arm and turning the wrist and hand) is splendid 
practice if a broad road or field can be had ; pull- 
ing up at all sorts of unexpected places, upon 
signal from a friend or servant on the coach ; 
backing round in narrow lanes and yards, driving 
through pegs and posts with many sharp turns in 

226 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

the course, etc., are excellent manoeuvres, and make 
a man a better coachman in thirty days than are 
half the "regulars " who have always driven only 
on the roads. Rough horses, all kinds, are the 
sort for learning from, and the meaner the better, 
provided you don't set too much store by paint 
and varnish, which can always be renewed. 
Practice is the only useful way to make perfect, 
and independence and sensible appreciation of the 
real issues are the desirable qualifications ; com- 
petent performance is the criterion of individual 
merit. 

The driving of one horse is nowadays, with 
most of us, an acquisition of youthful days, and 
usually performed in very slovenly style. The 
American fashion of holding a rein in either 
hand obviously does not tend to that delicacy of 
manipulation which is so essential to competent 
performance, and the fashion of one-hand driving 
is gaining ground everywhere. The attitude has 
much to do with proper performance, and the 
slouchy charioteer is generally not driving his 
horse, but " being taken to ride " behind him. 
Proper bitting has as much to do with comfort 
in handling one as four horses, and is a detail 
generally disregarded, nor do we appreciate the 

227 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

necessity of it. Loopings, as with four may be 
used, and the practice is excellent. The whip is 
not merely an ornament, but an instrument in- 
tended to play its important part in the guidance 
of the quadruped, and its manipulation should 
be carefully studied. 

Driving a well-mated and coupled pair is as 
easy as driving one, and the whole secret consists 
in so " putting them together " that they mu- 
tually assist, and do not obstruct each other at 
their work. Bits, harness, couplings, traces, pole- 
pieces must all be rightly fitted and arranged ; 
the horses must be comfortable to make the 
driver at ease. Just as one hand is more sym- 
pathetic with the single horse, so are two hands 
with a pair, and most pairs are virtually so driven, 
the right hand being always near the left, ready 
for use, and frequently in use. As much good 
practice may be gained by driving at a walk as at 
a trot, and it is no easy matter to keep a pair 
properly in their places at this gait. Judgment 
of distance is an essential to be developed by 
practising at driving between pegs, and nothing 
looks worse than to see a driver craning his neck, 
and taking his horses back to a slow pace to pass 
a vehicle, or enter a gate where practice should 

228 



FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 

show him that ample space was at his disposal. 
No man is driving who is not ready to turn right 
or left, at any angle, instantly to pull up, and 
promptly to increase his speed, and he is no 
coachman until he can perform these feats easily 
and gracefully, his hands in their proper place, 
about opposite the fourth button of his waistcoat, 
and not his chin nor his lap ; his arms hanging 
naturally from the shoulders, his position erect, 
and his attitude easy. Study the methods of an 
amateur accepted as proficient, and bear in mind 
that your appearance has as much to do with your 
reputation as a whip as your actual performance. 
Space forbids extended commentary on this art, 
which would by itself fill a book ; and anyway, 
given the few rudiments, there is no royal road 
to success but practice, diligent and incessant, 
and with all kinds of horses. 



229 



Chapter XVI 

COACHING AND ITS ACCOMPANIMENTS 

'* Here 's to the hand that can hold them when gone, 
Still to a gallop inclined, sirsj 
Heads to the front, with no bearing-reins on. 
Tails with no cruppers behind, sirs." 

Old Song. 

IT is a very curious thing that coaching, in 
its most sporting development (as the 
pubhc), or in its more individual and ex- 
clusive (as the private) form has not made 
greater advances in popular favor. Polo, hunt- 
ing, road driving, etc., all have their adherents 
and furnish enthusiasts in quantity ; but the use 
of four horses before an appropriate vehicle — 
coach, drag, or brake — while not necessarily 
more expensive than the other undertakings, ad- 
vances in popularity with slow and faltering 
strides. So far as cost goes, indeed, coaching 
may easily entail the smallest outlay of the lot. 
Of course if one is to purchase a new coach at 
^2,500 to ^3,000, ditto harness at I300 to ^500, 

230 




a 



COACHING 

horses at I500 each, liveries, etc., at high rates, 
figures may run to huge proportions. 

This expenditure is quite unnecessary, how- 
ever, and a second-hand vehicle at I400 to I700, 
harness at ^100 to $150, and horses at |ioo to 
I250, liveries, etc., those on hand (or even stable 
clothes if desired), will afford quite as much en- 
joyment and be just as practically useful, while 
one's lead harness answers perfectly for pair-horse 
work, as will the wheel at a pinch ; or if one has 
two sets of double harness, one set can be easily 
arranged with the proper spare lead terrets for 
pad and bridle, and the others provided with an 
extra set of traces with cockeyes, etc., for lead work. 
The horses may be four odd ones (two pairs, or the 
carriages-horses at wheel, and the saddle horses as 
leaders). One's vehicle also will bring at any 
time, and in any reasonably fair condition, about 
what it cost; I500 or thereabouts being a staple 
buying or selling price for a second-hand coach 
or break, and readily obtainable in any market. 

How much polo or hunting can one enjoy for 
the same, or less, money ? and again, while these 
two, or the road driving of fast horses, are purely 
selfish amusements, a four-in-hand enables from 
one to twelve others to enjoy most agreeable out- 

231 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

ings, and their presence really adds to the pleasure 
of the owner. We have the roads and the object 
points of romantic, picturesque, or historical inter- 
est in most localities ; we have the vehicles, 
horses, etc., obtainable at trifling outlay, and we 
lack simply the enterprise and the appreciation 
necessary to make the pleasure vehicle drawn by 
four horses as common on our thoroughfares as 
the private or public equipage of any other type. 
Perhaps, in its private form, coaching has for 
competitors too many other attractive and rather 
costly sports for it to be more generally popular ; 
and again, the driving of four horses has been, 
through lack of enterprise, and the machinations 
of professional teachers, who strive for private 
ends to encourage the belief that it is an accom- 
plishment most difficult of acquirement, held as a 
most serious and dangerous undertaking, whereas 
it is the acme of simplicity for any one who can 
successfully navigate one or a pair, and infinitely 
easier than driving tandem, which few aspiring 
Jehus hesitate to attempt. Four horses, in a 
way, combine to keep each other in the straight 
and narrow paths of rectitude, and even the 
"rawest " green one finds plenty to attend to at 
such work, and has little opportunity for sky- 

232 



COACHING 

larking. Moreover, the unpretentious amateur, 
indifferent to the " appointment fad " and its at- 
tending eternal bother and fuss, has all the best 
of it, so far as real enjoyment goes, and may pro- 
ceed gayly on his daily drives, serenely indifferent 
to the gibes of captious spectators, taking his 
pleasure in his own way, and giving full sway to 
the hardy individuality which should be and gen- 
erally is his birthright. 

When the cost of a coach-and-four has seemed 
prohibitive to the individual, it appears that a 
"neighborhood coach" might be both practical and 
practicable ; that is, that a syndicate of neighbors 
could arrange to assume each a certain part of the 
expense of purchasing and maintaining such an 
equipage ; he who provided one, two, or more 
horses thus standing upon the same footing as 
the man who paid as great an equivalent toward 
the purchase of the vehicle, harness, etc. These 
subscribers then might have a well appointed 
drag ready "turned out" for each of them on a 
certain day, or days, each week ; and in no way 
can more pleasure be afforded to so many people 
at so reasonable a cost. 

For the necessary attendants each man's servant 
(carried inside if preferred) would suffice. Plenty 

'^33 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

of good grooms can blow a " call " or two on the 
horn, and if not an amateur can very easily learn 
to perform — it is all part of the fun. If a team is 
kept especially for the coach, four animals quite 
good enough may be put together for about ^loo 
each, practically sound, good-looking, free, and 
pleasant drivers, so that after an original outlay 
of, say, 1 1,200 for the whole outfit, an expense of 
I4 per day for keep, and a trifle for shoeing 
and repairs, will furnish a " neighborhood " with 
means for six weekly outings at a really trifling 
individual cost. Of course*, it must be agreed 
that these daily drives are limited to a certain dis- 
tance within the powers of the animals, and it 
should be understood that any one making longer 
trips must provide his own horses. Therefore, 
for about |20 per month any subscriber may once 
a week take out for a drive of say ten miles a 
party of eight to twelve friends, enjoying with 
them a most unique pleasure. 

Public road coaching as an amusement has 
made a surprisingly slight advance in the affec- 
tions of Americans, and its perpetuation is nowa- 
days seemingly confined to New York, the locality 
of its inception more years ago than one cares to 
look back upon. 

234 



COACHING 

These undertakings have almost invariably 
been conducted upon non-practical and most 
expensive lines, with the natural result of aband- 
onment by the backers who found the debit side 
too extensive to face with equanimity, and of lack 
of support from a public which objected to paying 
heavily for a ride to a private club wherein they 
were tolerated but not encouraged ; or to nearby 
road-houses where the company was not unlikely 
to prove miscellaneous, to say the least, and the 
nourishment simply awful. 

Practically managed, the sport is not necessarily 
expensive, and with a more general understanding 
of this fact, it seems certain that the sound of the 
horn and the " chatter " of the bars would be very 
generally heard upon the splendid roads which 
lead from all our cities to nearby places of 
interesting environment. 

If one wishes to learn the art of "charioteering" 
from the "ground up," to acquire a practical and 
speedy knowledge of horse flesh, its capabilities, 
limitations, its management and preservation in 
health and soundness, to secure health-giving 
exercise in the open air, to afford vast pleasure 
to hosts of friends and acquaintances, there is no 
way he may so speedily and easily accomplish 

'^3S 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

these various ends as by taking up road-coaching 
actively ; not as a fad, but as a live issue, not in 
a desultory manner for a few weeks, but resolutely 
and for extended periods, — for our lovely springs, 
glorious summers, and superb autumns are equalled 
as a whole hardly anywhere on earth, and should 
all be liberally utilized. 

To be sure, at first, expenses will exceed re- 
ceipts, but knowledge comes quickly, and with 
the personal attention all undertakings demand 
and should receive, there is no need for heavy 
outlay of any sort ; while increasing reputation 
for owning good and well-mannered horse-flesh 
will meet its due reward in frequent private or 
public sales, insuring a handsome percentage of 
profit upon the investment. The trouble with 
most of these undertakings has been that horses 
were extravagantly bought, badly managed, 
improperly handled, and speedily used up, 
while at the annual sale the anticipated huge 
profits failed to materialize in consequence. 
The amateur owner's " geese are all swans " 
generally, and he scorns the " nimble nine- 
pence " of profit which he should welcome with 
eagerness. 

Perhaps a few hints of ways and means to in- 
236 



COACHING 

sure profit, or at all events help in preventing 
loss may be of interest. 

Regarding the coach and harness : one cannot 
go wrong if he applies to any of the leading 
dealers, either at home or abroad. For horses, 
one may go West or East if he prefers, but in 
New York he can find the raw material better 
broken, more nearly conditioned, and cheaper 
than anywhere in the country, for the reason that 
farmers nowadays know all about market prices, 
which are always well kept up at Western points, 
while New York is the "jumping-ofF place" for 
horse-flesh, and by auction or private sale a 
coach can be horsed more cheaply and quickly 
there than anywhere else, while the material 
offered is sure to be the best in the country or it 
would not be there. 

As a rule, one makes a mistake in expecting to 
get (or in giving, if one is a buyer) fancy prices 
for any animals which have been regularly work- 
ing a coach. Such horses have generally one- 
sided mouths, and have banged their legs about 
more than a bit ; if they have been the slow ones 
of their team they have either been kept hopping 
and skipping to keep up, until that unsightly 
mode of progression has become a habit, or else 

237 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

they have galloped most of the trip ; not a few of 
them are arch scoundrels at " soldiering " their 
work ; that is, they will not do their share, but 
shoulder the pole and their luckless mate, or learn 
the art of just keeping their traces straight and 
not really working at all. A public coach-horse 
has been not inaptly described as " an animal 
which has seen an unusual amount of grief in an 
uncommonly short while," and most of them fit 
the description. Therefore, the low cost horse, 
— not the one which is dear at | lOO, but the beast 
that is cheap at (or near) that figure — is the one 
likely to afford most general ultimate satisfaction. 
In a collection of expensive horses one is sure to 
acquire several gigantic and costly failures, while 
from a similar bunch of low priced material it is 
not unusual to develop a few really high class and 
valuable animals. In event also of the inevitable 
accidents, the loss in the first case is very heavy, 
and must be charged up against the remainder. 

Horses of i6 hands should be the limit, and 
15.2^ will generally be found more satisfactory. 
A " thick horse," long and low, good fronted, 
well-shouldered, deep hearted, long ribbed, closely 
coupled, deep quartered, short above and long 
below, standing square on all his legs, and mov- 

238 



COACHING 

ing true in all paces — "good to meet and good 
to follow" — is the sort, and beware the beast 
who " dishes," for he will either tire quickly or 
cut himself to pieces. Refuse the dull horse, 
for he will never last the season, and his faint 
heart will cause endless trouble. We have 
grown into the fashion of having our road-coach 
leaders of a rather slighter, more " rangey " and 
" breedy " shape than our wheelers, but it is un- 
doubtedly the case that, when the coach was the 
only means of public conveyance, our forefathers 
— whom we essay to imitate — made no such 
error, nor would our light leaders have long en- 
dured the heavy everyday work of big loads and 
heavy roads. Practically it is far more economi- 
cal to have your leaders more nearly of wheel- 
horse type than is usual, so that an animal may 
work anywhere in a team, at a pinch, and still 
" mate up " fairly well. By this means, with 
five horses at a changing station, every one gets 
a day off in six besides his Sunday, and all hands 
work " all round the team " to the ensuing im- 
provement of their legs, mouths, tempers, and 
condition ; whereas, otherwise, if you keep spare 
horses, you must always arrange to provide a 
change leader and a wheeler. Again, if you have 

'^39 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

on hand say twenty or thirty animals, any two of 
which will make a pair, the value of your whole 
stud is increased, both for use and for sale 
purposes. An additionally practical reason for 
this ability to work a horse anywhere is that one 
may constantly arrange new combinations, secur- 
ing thereby practically different teams to the 
furtherance of his own enjoyment and practice. 
Let all your stud be good-necked and up-headed, 
running up to 15.3 average. A horse of 
about that height is always salable, whereas the 
demand is limited for the one an inch or two 
smaller. Colors may be anything, and always 
try for a few odd-colored or flash-marked ones, 
leaving out " soft " bays. 

Having secured your " gee-gees," put them 
through physic, trim them up, and pair them off. 
Two mild doses of physic are better than a severe 
one, and ten days should intervene. A quart of 
Carron oil is excellent, or four drachms of aloes. 
When you " pair " them off, mate them by 
mouths and manners, rather than by exact heights 
and precisely similar appearance, if you want to 
drive comfortably; but of course secure as much 
similarity of make and shape as possible. Not 
half the preliminary work that is usually done 

240 



COACHING 

with them is necessary, and " fresh " horses should 
go on the road after three weeks' handling ; they 
will fall away a little, but they will quickly get 
their flesh back. By the way, be sure that all 
collars are especially fitted, and that they set very 
snugly at first, as horses' necks and shoulders are 
bound to shrink. 

A public coach-horse cannot wear too little 
harness : bridle, collar and hames for leaders (with 
or without trace-bearers, for they do not do much 
good), wheelers the same, with the addition of 
pads and breastplates. No cruppers need be 
used at wheel if the pads are provided with very 
thick, broad, and long housings of the heaviest 
felt. This will prevent the pad from cutting the 
withers when tipped forward by the up-draft of 
the reins to the hands ; and in fact it will not 
so " tip up " if properly girthed, unless by chance 
some leader pull hard, not usually a permanent 
feature of a hard working, properly bitted horse. 
This reduces your trappings to first principles, 
indeed, and with a spare check-rein or two, an 
odd port bit, an " all round nose " band, and a 
jaw strap, etc., you are fairly well provided so far 
as essentials go; rein and trace-splices, spare reins, 
etc., of course you will have also. A leader 
i6 241 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

which hugs its tail, or kicks when it gets the rein 
under, may be circumvented by fastening (tempo- 
rarily or permanently) a ring a foot or two behind 
the coupling buckle on the other horse, and run- 
ning the awkward horse's rein through this ring, 
both reins leading thence inside the wheelers* 
bridles (not out). 

" Putting horses together," by which is meant 
proper regulation of the harness, reins, and bits 
to each individual requirement to the subsequent 
general advantage, and the appropriate placing 
of each horse in the team, is a matter of observa- 
tion and experiment, and a vitally important detail. 
Four horses comprise a team, but they do not 
necessarily make a team, by a long way. The 
alteration of a hole or two in couplings, dropping 
or raising a bit, " roughing " or smoothing, loos- 
ening or tightening of curb chains, taking up or 
letting out pole pieces, low-headed horses always 
underneath in coupling; the whole team com- 
pact — wheelers and leaders close to their work; 
lead traces always crossed (to opposite bars), for 
nothing so puts together a slug and a free-goer, 
as any ploughman or teamster knows. (This 
may not be " early English," but it is practical 
and has no drawback, except allowing the bars to 

242 



COACHING 

swing awkwardly sometimes at the gallop.) Pole 
pieces should be loose and coupling free for 
wheel horses, closer for leaders ; and awkward 
leaders may sometimes be " throat-lashed," as it 
is called, as well, which puts their heads close 
together if inclined to pull. Nosebands and jaw- 
straps are always useful and often necessary. The 
mere compulsory closing of a puller's mouth 
often renders him as light and pliant as any. 

Watch especially the top of the neck and the 
shoulders, under the hames drafts, for chafing, 
and be sure that the sweating shoulders are im- 
mediately well sponged with cold water, which 
will close the pores. Let every horse's bridle fit 
him (especially the wheelers), and every one's bit 
be of the make, shape, and width which suits 
him best. Browbands, especially, are often too 
small, too sharp-edged ; blinkers set too close ; 
throat lashes are too short, or the whole bridle 
moves or chafes when the lead reins play. Your 
horses must work hard, make them comfortable 
every way you can think of, and don't " pooh- 
pooh " anything you have not tried. 

Never economize on stable help, and always 
arrange to drop in on them at all sorts of un- 
expected hours, day or night. Many a road 

243 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

coach horse spends his " leisure " (?) time in work 
of various kinds, from which his care-taker 
profits, and the constant eye of the owner, or 
some capable representative, is the only thing to 
keep horses and men up to the mark. A team 
running on a local coach was found to be very 
thin, whereas all the other horses on the road 
held their flesh. Not until after the sale was it 
found that the poor brutes had never been fed in 
the middle of the day, the grooms at each end 
of their stage " supposing " that the others had 
fed them while the master knew nothing about it 
personally, but left all to chance. 

Teams should never be changed at their 
stables, but the fresh " change " led out at least 
half a mile, so that they mav be well " on their 
feet " and ready ; while the old team so thor- 
oughly " cools out " and tranquillizes heart and 
respiration in its walk home, that no harm can 
come to it. Grooms may object, but that is 
of little moment, and many a possibly damaged 
horse will be saved. 

With a " long ground," that is, a stage which a 
fresh team works each way, to change the teams 
to every few weeks, horses last much longer. No 
cold-blooded horse can long endure being thor- 

244 



COACHING 

oughly exhausted, and regularly " done up " twice 
each day, as he must be in the ordinary stages 
where he works both ways ; and a change to the 
" long ground," which he travels but once (al- 
though over a longer distance), will do him as 
much good as having the spare wheeler or leader 
to work " turn about " on the double-trip system. 
Four horses managed thus will do better than 
five worked in the ordinary manner. 

Horses should be kept naturally also, and the 
swaddling process of heavy blankets and closed 
windows, which the average groom insists upon, 
be sternly forbidden. When in rugged health a 
horse needs and will endure great apparent ex- 
posure, and once he is thoroughly " cooled out" 
clear through, vitals and all, he cannot have too 
much air and too few clothes, which means none 
at all. Learn of the trainers of thoroughbred 
race horses on this point, and keep your animals 
naturally cool, airy, well bedded, and well fed, 
plenty of hay and all the water (at temperature 
of air) they can drink whenever they want it. 
No horse can eat well and do well if he does n't 
drink well, and don't imagine that he is not to 
have it when he is warm. You do yourself, 
and you need n't fear for him, providing circula- 

245 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

tlon and respiration are tranquil and the water has 
the chill off. In fact, in all dealings with horses 
disregard tradition and^ hearsay, and be governed 
by common-sense and ordinary intelligence. 

Toward the securing of first-class " condition " 
nothing is more essential than properly cared for 
teeth and regularly assimilated food and drink ; 
toward its maintenance nothing is more indispen- 
sable, if the season is long, the roads and loads 
heavy, and the drivers changeable and not crack 
performers, than the proper use of powerful tonics 
like quinine and arsenic, especially quinine. This 
will cause expressions of indignation, perhaps ; but 
if so, it will come from people who have never had 
to keep low-bred horses on their feet and in good 
condition throughout hot weather at this most 
exhausting work ; or who, if they have done so 
successfully, have profited by the use of tonics 
administered without their knowledge. Properly 
used (mark " properly used"), no drugs are more 
generally and directly beneficial or more harmless. 

Horses need change of scene and the oftener 
the better. However, every coachman quickly 
finds this out, for there is nothing more monoto- 
nous than driving teams that know their run to 
an inch, cutting all corners and quickening or 

246 



COACHING 

slowing their pace like machines. Horses gain 
spirit and flesh at once when changed about, and 
a general shift every two weeks greatly enlivens 
matters. 

Above all, a road-coach should go, must go, 
a good pace, and nothing is more tiresome or 
less sporting, than the funereal progress pursued 
by the average public conveyance. As " speed," 
" speed," and " more speed " are the essentials 
for a race-horse, so are they for a successful coach, 
and if this is not to be the characteristic, the 
whole enterprise is best left alone. Better five 
miles at a clipping pace with one than twenty with 
three or four teams at a jog trot; just fast enough 
to eat your own dust, and the freight praying for 
the (and your) end. 

Perhaps an approximate table of expenses for 
running a road-coach for a short season, using three 
changes (four teams), may be interesting, and the 
monthly sheet would figure about as follows : 

Keep twenty horses @ ^i.oo . . . . $600.00 

Shoeing, etc 40.00 

Two grooms @ ^\o 80.00 

Guard 55'°° 

Repairs and incidentals 25.00 

$800.00 
247 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

To this must be added about ^60 if a super- 
intendent is employed ; about I40 for " cock- 
horse boy," if one is used, and other needless items 
may run it up to $800 or more per month. If, 
however, the promoter's heart be in the under- 
taking, he will act as his own superintendent, 
hire cheap stabling, feed his own horses, shoe 
them with tips, and economize vigorously and 
wisely everywhere, his sheet running about 
thus : 



Feed and care twenty horses @ . 50 
Stall-room @ $4 per month, per horse 

Shoeing 

Guard 

Repairs 



500.00 
80.00 
10.00 
55.00 
15.00 



$460.00 



This assumes that he also keeps his horses 
in such condition that little or no veterinary at- 
tendance is required. His horses ought not 
to cost him over ^100 per head, and if he will 
" take 'em as they come," as a road-coach should, 
he will find no trouble in securing free-going, 
easy-driving teams, whose occasional infirmities 
of temper it will prove both amusing and in- 
structive to combat. If horses are sold at pri- 
vate sale out of the different teams, it will also 

248 



COACHING 

prove more generally remunerative than an 
auction, and useful horses in hard condition 
are always in demand at fair prices. Such fig- 
ures are all that the proprietor should strive to 
secure as a general thing, although occasionally 
he can mate up a pair that will bring him 
excellent returns. 

He should also be able to secure concessions 
(in the way of keep, percentage, etc.) from the 
hotels whence he starts and where he finishes. It 
is all business, and if he brings trade to various 
hostelries, he should claim his share, especially as 
his freight generally spends money freely. To 
popularize his route, he will do well to reduce 
prices of transportation to the lowest limit, 
compatible with earning a fair profit on his 
outlay of time and money. The average prices 
are excessive, and the expenses of two persons 
in a coach trip to-day will draw heavily upon 
a twenty-dollar bill, while were the cost $10.00 
or less many more would take passage. The 
average party also finds a good road house 
or hotel far more agreeable as a destination 
than a private club wherein they do not feel 
at home, must submit to certain restrictions, 
and figure neither as active members nor priv- 

249 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

ileged guests. The existence of these condi- 
tions has greatly affected the popularity of this 
glorious sport, and the average " public " is 
masquerading under a false title, and is such in 
name only. 



250 



Chapter XVII 

MANAGEMENT OF A PACK OF HOUNDS 

A HUNTING we will go," as runs 
/ % the old English roundelay, can 

/ %^ hardly be read by even the most 
phlegmatic without a stirring of 
the pulse, and an indefinite wish that one had, 
" when all the world was young, boys," turned 
more attention to the joys and perils, the tri- 
umphs and the vicissitudes of such outdoor 
pursuits. Involuntarily one straightens the droop- 
ing shoulders, and expands the chest which, all 
too seldom, rejoice in such novel sensations ; 
and a sigh of regret at opportunities lost, dis- 
misses an idea which might, under proper culti- 
vation, result in endless benefit to even the man 
of middle age, or worse, would he but cast aside 
the clogging fetters of indolence, and, accepting 
the goods the gods provide, fare him forth to 
undertakings which would prove as healthful as 
inexpensive, and as fatal to his increasing girth 

251 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

and advancing decrepitude as they would be 
beneficial to his welfare. To such an one, as to 
those in the flush of youth and vigor, any and 
all methods and means of securing outdoor exer- 
cise should be welcome, and would be so did they 
but realize the possibilities at their hands in this 
great country of ours. " The man on horseback 
rules," as some wise tactician has sensibly re- 
marked ; and what is true of nations applies as 
well to individuals. " There is something about 
the outside of a horse that is good for the inside 
of a man," as Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes so 
wittily and pithily put it, and he who takes the 
prescription will surely endorse it. To the nov- 
ice — and these articles are meant to interest the 
" new hand " — and the neophyte who is recom- 
mended horseback exercise ; or to the faddist who 
takes it up as a caprice, the humdrum monotony 
of riding-school and bridle-path equestrianism is 
as dull as a sermon with fourteen sub-heads. 
Once enlisted at this branch of sport, the recruit 
must be kept interested, or he returns quickly to 
his shell, never again to be tempted forth. To 
such, as to the adept, drag hunting over a coun- 
try that is fair, and rideable for the moderate per- 
former, afibrds a mode of delightful enjoyment 

252 




o 

< 

PLi 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

that is as little appreciated as it is rarely adopted ; 
while, that the ladies, the children, and the 
"road delegation" may be provided for, the 
course may always be laid parallel to, or con- 
stantly crossing, various roads, that the spectacle 
may be visible to all. Such gallops need occupy 
but a trifle of time, from forty to sixty minutes, 
and it is perfectly possible to so arrange matters 
that within those times hounds may have covered 
a fair space of country, and at a rate of speed 
which changes the usual afternoon or morning 
trot and canter into a delightful brisk hand gal- 
lop, as beneficial to beast as exhilerating to man. 
Suitable country for such undertakings abounds 
everywhere in America, and may often be found 
close to, or inside of, the limits of even large 
cities. Farmers, as a rule, never object, especially 
where the hunt carefully and immediately repairs 
all smashed fences, but enjoy with their families 
the novel and picturesque sights such runs afford. 
Wire may always be dodged in such hunting, 
and if it is very prevalent, arrangements can 
always be made to substitute a panel or two of 
negotiable rails here and there in the line which 
is to be followed, while purchase of hay, grain, 
and other commodities, even at slightly better 

253 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

than market rates, will do much to cement good 
feeling, and may be considered as return in part 
for the privileges which the hunt enjoys. Of 
course, gardens, new seeding, grain fields, etc., 
must be sacred; but here again the " dragman " 
can easily arrange his journey so that no harm 
shall ensue, and pasture, meadow, and lane only 
be encroached upon. 

Wholly false ideas are entertained regarding 
the cost of such undertakings, the original outlay 
necessary, and the expense of maintenance. The 
whole matter need run to but small figures, and the 
spring, and fall (and summer's) hunting entails but 
a mere bagatelle of outlay. If puppies are to be 
bred and " walked," if high-cost horses are kept, 
high-class servants employed, and costly kennels 
built, money to any amount may be " chucked " 
away ; but no such plans are contemplated here — 
merely a rough-and-ready establishment, which 
shall provide the maximum of fun at the mini- 
mum of expense, unpretenti'ous, amateurish, and 
the more amusing for that reason. Hound pups 
are most difficult to rear, because of distemper, 
and the mortality is always enormous among 
them, while many which survive the disease are 
either crippled or worthless ; cheap hunters, that 

254 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

can do other " slave " harness-and-saddle work at 
any time are indicated, and will provide as much 
sport as the expensive sort ; while, if accident 
occur, the loss is small. Servants need be few in 
number ; in fact, one man who lays the drag, 
feeds the hounds, cares for the hunt-horses, etc., 
is all sufficient, assisted, if an amateur does not 
" whip-in " to the amateur master, by a light lad, 
who can ride a little, and help about the stables 
and kennels. One man will, however, do all the 
work, — the three or four hunt-horses, the six to 
ten couple of hounds, etc., — and, if an active 
and lively fellow, as any servant should be, do it 
well. 

Horses may be picked up at all sorts of prices, 
but it is very easy to obtain in the auction marts 
(of the east, at least) any quantity of good, safe, 
useful " gee-gees," able and trained to jump well, 
gallop fairly, work in harness, etc., perhaps not 
all clear and clean in their legs, but bearing 
" honorable " scars only, emblematic of disaster 
in flood and field, and fully competent for the 
work in hand. Such animals run all the way 
from ^50 to $150, although if a man is very 
heavy he may have to pay rather more for some- 
thing up to his weight. The light and the 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

middle weight (lucky men !) may easily mount 
themselves for about these figures ; but of course 
when they promote themselves to a fast pace and 
a big jumping country, they must expect to pay 
accordingly. We are not now considering those 
matters, but providing for a line where fences do 
not run (or need not run) over three feet six 
inches to four feet, as a general thing, that be- 
ginners may be encouraged, and not dismayed 
or hurt by celerity of progress or altitude of 
obstacle. 

" Draft hounds " may be procured from any 
established pack for next to nothing, often two or 
three dollars each, especially if several couple are 
taken, and, for a beginning, almost "any old 
thing" that will gallop and hunt will answer. 
" Babblers," "skirters," non-hunters (so that they 
go along with the rest), anything will do at first, 
and as experience teaches and knowledge increases, 
so the pack may be re-drafted and improved along 
reasonable, sensible, and economical lines. Eng- 
lish hounds are always to be preferred for such 
work, and for the handling of the neophyte 
master, as, both by inheritance and education, 
they "pack" better, are more manageable on 
road and in kennel, more picturesque in appear- 

2^6 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

ance and more easy to obtain. They do not 
give tongue like the American hounds, but they 
make music enough, and as your drag need not 
run through large woodlands, the field is in no 
danger of losing them if they keep anywhere 
near at hand. The American hound will stand 
no knocking about ; a whip crack or a harsh 
" rate," and he is off home ; he can rarely be 
handled on the roads unless coupled, and, once 
the run is over, will march away to kennel by 
himself, while, if the whip tries to " turn him to " 
the master, he is lucky if he gets to him within 
the limits of the county. In kennel, also, they 
are shy and discontented. After our wild foxes 
the American hound, with his wonderful nose, 
his patience, his pace, and his conversational 
powers, is unapproachable, but he insists upon 
handling the job his own way, and, be you ever 
so intimate with him, resents your interference 
with his business firmly and immediately, nor, 
once he has left off through your officiousness, 
will he begin again, that day at least. English 
hounds may be " rated," thrashed, ridden over, 
" lifted," cast and banged about any way you like, 
once get them on the line again and they go 
cheerfully on their way, " 'owling 'orribly," as the 

17 257 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

nervous old lady said, but plugging along to the 
end, where six pounds of a bullock's neck seems 
to afford them as much gratification and amuse- 
ment as If they had run into the "little red rover" 
himself. A mixture of the two kinds never 
proves satisfactory, and provides a pack which 
spreads over a forty-acre field, some on the line, 
and some yards and furlongs down-wind of it. 

Of course, after a time some (the majority) 
of your " mottled darlings " will lose interest in 
hunting, and will become quite worthless, save as 
an addition to numbers. Generally these old 
stagers are incorrigible, but occasionally (if 
thought worth while) they may " come again " 
if loaned to some sportsman for the winter who 
shoots rabbits, etc. Worked on the " bunnies," 
and allowed to kill and to taste fresh blood, some 
of them will become keen again, but draft hounds 
are so cheap and plentiful that it is rarely worth 
while to bother. It is often possible to thus lend 
your hounds, or some of them, to various farmers 
who employ their leisure time in winter in shoot- 
ing, and thereby the expense of keeping them is 
saved to you, while, as you only run a drag, it is 
quite immaterial what your charges fancy as long 
as they leave sheep, calves, and chickens alone. 

258 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

A drag pack of six couple is plenty large 
enough for ordinary occasions ; holidays and fete 
days you may turn out the whole lot of ten 
couple or thereabout. A big lot of such hounds, 
which is bound to contain some stragglers, gets 
under horses* feet at the fences, and is a nuisance 
generally, and besides it is far easier to get a small 
lot to " pack " well and run properly than a large 
one, and as galloping and jumping is the main 
issue, superfluous hounds should be avoided. 
There is nothing to be gained by a big pack, and 
ten couple will easily give you a working detail 
of six or seven couple for three days a week, or 
more if you have time, for after all, there was 
something in the oft-quoted remark of the hard- 
riding English lordling, after a " lark home " fol- 
lowing a blank day : " There ! you see what fun 
we might have if it wasn't for those d — d 
hounds ! " For, of course, in America, hounds 
must be but the material means to the end of a 
good gallop, that being, alas ! about all we, most 
of us, have either time, inclination, or opportunity 
to accomplish, nor would the average impetuous 
national character have patience to potter about 
all day. 

As to kennels, hounds do well in very rough- 
259 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

and-ready quarters, so long as they are reasonably 
cool in summer, and free from damp in winter. 
Stone structures are distinctly to be avoided, at 
least for winter use, and any hovel which has a 
good height of roof and does not leak will answer 
all purposes. It should, of course, have at least 
one, and preferably two, shady yards of fair size, 
and the building itself should be divided into two 
rooms, a feeding and a sleeping apartment, the 
latter provided with slatted benches, about two 
feet from the ground, which will either fold up 
against the wall or take out entirely, so that per- 
fect cleanliness and disinfection may be assured. 
While washing down and sweeping will work well 
for at least seven months in the year, any damp- 
ness is very bad, in winter, at least, in the sleep- 
ing quarters, and the disinfected sawdust which 
may be obtained in barrels answers all purposes 
better if it is liberally used, and swept out with 
a very stiff broom daily. Hounds are fairly tidy 
if given constant access to a yard, but some are 
incorrigible offenders and defile everything. For 
this reason the drinking water should be renewed 
several times ,daily, and preferably arranged so 
that the animals must stand on their hind legs to 
reach it. Straw makes an excellent bedding to 

260 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

scatter over the benches, but it should be fresh- 
ened daily and renewed entirely every few days, 
while by body dressing and the use of insecticides, 
constant warfare must be waged upon fleas. The 
feeding room will need the same treatment, only 
that its floor and troughs must be kept scoured, 
and the troughs always set out in the sun daily 
and never allowed to sour. Everything about 
kennels should be, and can be, as sweet as a rose, 
and any ofi^ensive odors pay eloquent tribute to 
negligence and want of care, not only from the 
kennel man, but from the master. Any man who 
takes animals in his charge, and does not properly 
care for them, is worse than a beast himself. 
The extraordinary odors emanating from the 
kennel and cook-room (and hounds themselves) 
of some very pretentious packs are an insult not 
only to the defenceless animals, but to all the 
members of the hunt whom the master thus wil- 
fully neglects. Hounds bearing traces of mange 
and other skin disease, blear-eyed and rough- 
coated, are also by no means uncommon. Every 
one should receive a body dressing with a rough- 
ish brush and a cloth " swipe " every day of his 
life, and will learn to enjoy it as much as a horse, 
while by this means every little abrasion of skin, 

261 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

etc., is noticed and may be at once attended 
to. A large pail should be kept in the kennel 
containing the following mixture and provided 
with a good big stiff paint brush to rub the dress- 
ing on and in : 

Crude petroleum 2 quarts 

Oil of tar 2 pints 

Flowers of sulphur 4 pounds 

Turpentine i^ pints 

Use this whenever there is any redness of the 
skin, or cuts; it will make the victim sing out for 
a few moments, but it will cure anything from 
mange down. 

In dry, hot weather, hounds are very apt to 
get tender-footed as their pads wear pretty thin, 
and a pickle of strong brine, in which their feet 
may be placed for a few moments daily is excel- 
lent. A shallow trough that will hold an inch of 
the fluid is all that is necessary, and if it is placed 
in a passage-way so that they must walk through 
it, will be just the proper arrangement ; while if 
there is a door at each end of the passage, the 
whole pack may be shut in, on returning from 
exercise or from hunting, and left for a few min- 
utes. Occasionally, too, in the early fall, certain 

262 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

of them seem to be affected sometimes by a sort 
of hay fever, due either to dust or the pollen 
from some weeds, and a weakness and running 
of the eyes ensues, which may be alleviated by 
any of the washes used for such things on the 
human subject, and the kennel may be kept dark- 
ened as in summer, at all events on bright days. 
For this reason, if any whitewash is used (as it 
never should be, however cleansing, because 
hounds' coats get full of it, unless plenty of glue 
(sizing) is mixed with it), it should have some 
lamp-black mingled with it, in order to give a 
dull gray, and not a glaring white, effect. 

The proper feeding of hounds in this climate is 
not generally understood, because usually English 
servants have them in charge, and masters leave 
all such details to them. It is to the heavy flesh- 
feeding that much of the disagreeable (doggy) 
smell may be attributed, and such strong food as 
horse meat is never needed, at all events with the 
" dragmen," nor raw meat of any kind, save that 
provided by the " worry " which they will enjoy 
the more and work the keener for, if they taste 
it only then. In fact this plan works wonders 
sometimes in the energy of a pack, once they un- 
derstand that they will get blood at the end of a 

263 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

run, and at no other time. Broths and soups 
may be made of various odds and ends of cheap 
and refuse meats, and at least once a week they 
should be " drawn " off into a yard two or three 
couples at a time, and given some good big bones 
to gnaw at, polish their teeth with, and growl 
over. Always have some one with them at these 
times, for the best of bench bed-fellows will fall out 
over a bone, and in a moment the whole lot will 
be at it. And never go among hounds without 
a good lashed crop ; you never can tell, and 
when one gets nasty the others sometimes back 
him up — trousers are expensive, and it's bother- 
some to eat meals from the mantel-shelf. Stale 
bread, etc., may be bought at any baker's very 
cheap, about fifty cents a sugar (not flour) bar- 
rel full, and, either broken up and sopped in 
broth, or fed occasionally in large pieces, dry, it 
makes an excellent food. Oatmeal " puddings " 
may be used in cold weather, but it is a very 
heating food and sure to make skin trouble with 
(man or) hounds if fed regularly and liberally. 
Cornmeal pudding, or a rough sort of corn bread, 
made and baked in large tins, is excellent, as is 
rye mush sometimes, while occasionally a regular 
vegetable soup, or broth, affords a welcome 

264 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

change. " Puddings " are made by boiling the 
meal until it is cooked, and then turning it off 
into large tins, which will hold five to ten quarts 
each. Once a week in winter, and twice in sum- 
mer (if the pudding is kept in a cold place) will 
be often enough to cook, and will keep all sweet 
and savory, while this material may be then taken as 
wanted, and either mixed with broth and scraps 
of well-cooked meat, or fed alone. The hearty 
" doers " will get along well on but little broth or 
meat food, but the shy, light, dainty feeders need 
a lot of coaxing sometimes (yet are frequently the 
best hounds in the pack), and generally must 
have their handful or two of meat extra and other 
little attentions. No two are alike, and the man 
who feeds his hounds like swine will find they 
work like pigs. The dainty ones must never see 
a full trough, either ; just a little, and, if that is 
eaten, a little more, and so on, winding up, as 
necessities direct, with a few bits of meat, and 
then " calling over " the next hound, before turn- 
ing the dainty feeder into the yard, when Mr. 
Fastidious will generally pick a bit more just to 
spite the newcomer. On these trifles and this 
" infinite capacity for taking pains " depends suc- 
cess in all undertakings in life, and he who pooh- 

265 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

poohs them as insignificant has no business with 
animals as a charge. 

Hounds should always be drawn one at a time 
for feeding, and that by name, no animal being 
allowed to stir out of his turn, nor should the 
same order ever be preserved, as otherwise they 
get very cunning and answer, not to their names, 
but to the turn which they feel has arrived. By 
this means discipline is preserved, both indoors 
and out, and the dog eats his fill slowly and un- 
disturbed, while meantime one has a chance to 
look him over, and " have a word with him " all 
alone, as enjoyable to him as to you, if you have 
the real instinct of dog love and dog sense. No 
hound should move from his bench until 
called, and any misbehavior must be punished 
by a sharp rate or whip-crack, and by being left 
until the last. Properly drilled, not a hound will 
stir until called. When troughs are filled, open 
the connecting door and give the order, " Bench 
up, all of you, bench up ! " As soon as all are up 
and waiting, draw one by name, as, " Prattler, 
come over ! " speaking the dog's name very 
clearly. Some timid or cowed ones will show 
that they have been cruelly flogged by previous 
feeders, but one can soon get them to bound at 

266 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

the word. Shut the door, and when Prattler is 
through, fondle him a bit and turn him out into 
the yard. Thus draw over, one at a time, until 
all are fed, when the door from the other room 
into the yard may be opened, and they may 
return to their sleeping quarters. 

Hounds should be fed twice daily, some light 
broth or " lap " in the morning , — skim milk, may 
sometimes be had very cheap, — but the hearty 
meal always at night. It does no harm, after 
hunting, to have an old broom in your hand 
when hounds are feeding, and to dip this in the 
broth and sprinkle them well with it. When 
they return to bench they will then set to and 
lick themselves and each other all over, the warm 
tongues forming the best kind of a fomentation 
for any cuts or bruises they may have sustained. 
The " sing-song " in which they love to indulge, 
especially on a frosty, moonlight night, should 
never be checked, unless too long prolonged, and 
has always seemed too much of a hymn of 
thanksgiving for full belly and comfortable bed 
to be interfered with ; in fact, when they thus 
"sing" they are doing pretty well bodily. When 
working, of course, they must be closely watched, 
and those which are shrinking too fast, worked 

267 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

less and fed most nourishing food. Very fast 
hounds may be made to " pack " better by keep- 
ing them high in flesh, while the slow ones must 
be fitted like race-horses if they are to be literally 
" in the hunt." A capable feeder, who has op- 
portunities to see hounds work, can make a vast 
difference in any pack. 

When hunting is going on hounds need little 
horse exercise. What they get in their yards and 
an airing once daily with a man on foot, who 
takes them to a big field where they may knock 
about a bit, will keep them hearty and reg- 
ular, and amount to about the equal of a four- 
mile jog if they are out for an hour. Always 
keep them interested and make much of them, 
and have a few bits of biscuit, etc., to toss to 
them, but as soon as they begin to get ranging 
about, either take them in, or couple them, or 
they may get into mischief. When horse exer- 
cise is on, it had better be done in the early 
morning for the fresh air and the dew, and at a 
brisk pace. A moderate distance at a fair pace 
is better than dawdling along for miles, and 
condition comes quicker thus. Keep them well 
packed at all such times, and have your whip at- 
tend to his business, or your neighborhood will be 

268 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

" shy " sundry pet bow-wows, cats, and chickens. 
The rascals will continually try you to see just how 
far they may go, and any insubordination must 
be nipped in the bud. If they get muddy when 
out wipe them off before they go to their 
benches, and do not leave them to shiver and 
dry themselves as best they may. A properly 
handled pack will heed every low-spoken word, 
and such a thing as a flogging is soon totally 
unnecessary ; but when it is, make no mistake 
about it, and be sure the individual understands 
what it is for, and receives it promptly, or he 
will go further next time. 

When the time arrives for taking the field 
every effort should be made to simulate, as far 
as possible, the "real thing" in hunting; and on 
holidays, or on other occasions, where time is 
plenty, two or three covers may be drawn before 
hounds are really " laid on " to the drag. This 
not only makes them more keen, but it affords 
an opportunity for the field to see the pack at 
work, and is also capital schooling for the tyro 
master, who, of course, will also hunt his hounds. 
The dragsman may be instructed to visit a grove 
or two, and therein to let his cane touch the 
ground in a few places, that hounds may be en- 

269 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

couraged to work, and to really draw through 
such coverts. If a fox or two can be kept ken- 
nelled, the litter will afford the best material for a 
drag, but in its default, anise-seed, or any of the 
other combinations used, answer about as well. 
The dragsman takes a small vial in his pocket, 
and, armed with a walking-stick which has a rag 
wrapped around the end, he pursues his way over 
the selected course, touching the ground at every 
step or two, as one would handle a cane, and re- 
moistening the rag occasionally from his vial. In 
dry weather he may find it better to drag his 
stick along, as scent is apt to quickly evaporate 
under these conditions, and due attention must 
always be paid to such details, and also as to the 
direction of the wind. Hounds do better "up 
wind " on hot or muggy days, or, at all events, 
across it; down wind they get very much dis- 
tressed, and it is also hard on horses and riders. 
This, of course, has special reference to summer 
hunting, which is as possible with drag hounds as 
that at any other period of the year, checks with 
more frequency being necessary, and fences, made 
blind from thick foliage, being avoided when 
possible. The dotting of the stick in spaces a 
few feet apart makes hounds " pack " and work 

270 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

better. With the old-fashioned bag they might 
run a field " down wind " of the line, and still 
carry the scent breast high ; in fact, the field 
could smell it themselves. This is what spoils 
drag hounds and makes them so careless that, 
finally, they will own nothing less rank, so spoiled 
are their noses. The drag should also end near 
a grove, wall, or some such place, as if the quarry 
had escaped, and not, as generally the case, in 
the middle of a big field, where hounds check, 
stare about, and finally act as if they fully real- 
ized how they had been fooled. The checks 
should be arranged in the same way, and if pos- 
sible (especially in summer) occur at or near a 
river, brook, or spring, where the exhausted 
brutes can lap a little water and wallow a few 
minutes, to cool their over-heated bodies. Many 
a fit and case of over-exhaustion will thereby be 
frustrated, and then again, any fox might have 
thrown them off there. If stone walls are plenti- 
ful, or fences are close-made, order the dragsman 
to always take his drag through or near to bar- 
ways and gaps. Hounds are thus saved much 
useless labor in jumping, and your object must 
be, with the small pack at your disposal, to keep 
them as fresh as possible, and to avoid all unnec- 

271 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

essary work. For the same reason an old wagon 
or van is useful to take them on, and bring them 
home, if the meets are far from the kennels. 
Ten couple handled thus will do as much work 
as twice the number that are slammed about and 
neither properly cared for nor favored in all the 
little details that go to " make the difference." 
It is beautiful to see hounds going to cover and 
coming home, but it means just so many extra 
miles, and you may have large distances to get 
over. When at the meet let the whip keep a 
watchful eye for stragglers, and by throwing to 
them a few scraps of biscuit, etc., from your 
hand, talking to them and keeping them inter- 
ested, they will cause no trouble until you are 
ready to move. Be careful that your drag does 
not start too near the meet, for the wind may 
bring the savor to the pack, and if so, the run is 
on in a minute. Always draw " down " the wind 
onto your starting point, and not "up " for the 
same reason. When time is up jog quietly off, 
making sure that your whip — we will assume you 
have only one — keeps the field off the hounds, 
and insures them room enough; nothing makes 
them wilder than the ever-present fear of being 
ridden over, and you, as master, can and should 

272 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

prevent it, for as such you are autocratic, and 
may even declare the run off, and go straight 
home, should your field prove recalcitrant. Ex- 
plain to them that their fun depends, now and in 
future, on giving hounds plenty of room on road 
or in field. When they find and " go away," go 
on with the leaders and leave it to your whip to 
get any stragglers away. English hounds will be 
the better for a scream or two at this juncture, 
and the tail hounds will fly to it. Ride your 
own line and set your field an example in this 
respect, taking the bitter with the sweet, and 
giving your pets plenty of room by riding to 
one side of them. A live fox generally turns 
" down wind," but your drag hounds need not 
be thus considered, for you will, as often as not, 
have the scent laid the other way. Give them 
room, therefore, and let them alone, save a word 
of encouragement to those not hunting keenly ; 
and be very careful how you encourage the lead- 
ing hounds, the keenest and fastest, too extrava- 
gantly. It is hard to refrain from cheering 
honest old Bachelor, who is working every yard, 
and carrying the head like the game old dog he is ; 
but that arch scoundrel. Furious, may awaken to 
his duties if you can really get him in conceit with 
18 273 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

himself, so " talk him along," and try to get him 
and that shy old bitch. Rarity, and that star-gaz- 
ing, babbling old villain, Guardsmen, into the 
game, leaving Bachelor and Prattler, Honesty, 
Rapture, and the rest to meet their reward at the 
end of the run in plentiful caress of voice and 
hand. If cattle, sheep, or colts are on the line 
try to get your whip up to you ; you may need 
him, and it is bothersome to have to whip and 
rate your own hounds. These obstructionists 
may foil the line and bring about a check you 
had not anticipated, and if so let hounds alone, 
until they begin to get their heads up and " chuck 
it," when you may take them in hand, as they 
plainly show themselves ready for assistance, as 
much as to say, " Boss, we give it up ! Where 
did he go ? " Have a wary eye to the real hunt- 
ers at such times, for wise old Bachelor may make 
a cast forward on his own account, and if you 
have let him get too far away from the main body 
and yourself he may suddenly " own it " with a 
joyous note, and be off before you and the rest 
can get to him. Keep your field back at such 
times. " Away back and sit down " is their 
place. 

Arriving at your prearranged check, when 
274 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

hounds all " throw up " and quit, have your 
whip put them to you (after jumping off your 
good horse for a moment or two, if the pace has 
been fast or the going deep, and waiting for your 
field to catch up) ; cast them quietly, zigzag- 
ging along up to your new point of departure, 
and encouraging them to hunt all the way, using 
up time according to the weather and your own 
haste. When they " own it " again, cheer them 
away and go on as before, save that at the very 
last you may really cap them along, as the scent 
grows stronger (because it is fresher) and they 
seem to be "running into him." Arrived at the 
" finish," take your six or eight pounds of meat — 
a steer's or bull's neck makes the best material, as 
it is tough and they must " worry " it well before 
it will come to pieces; if "gamey" it is all the 
better. Get them about you, encouraging the 
shy ones all you can ; hold it well above your 
head, that they may see it, and throw it to 
them, urging them to worry and tear it to frag- 
ments, that all may get a taste, and preventing 
any hound from getting too large a piece. If the 
weather is hot get them to water somehow, either 
to a nearby brook, etc., or hire some lad to bring 
a bucket. Water them yourself (in fact, they 

275 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

should look to you for everything), and see that 
all are attended. Couple up those that road 
best so confined, and shack off home, treating 
them on arrival as described in earlier pages. 

As to hound language, you will soon pick it 
up. Very little is really needed, nor is it easily 
put in print. The whip's rate should always 
include the name of the hound, clearly and 
twice repeated, if he addresses an individual, as, 
" Curious ! Get for'rard ! Curious ! " the first 
word attracting the desired hound's attention, 
and the repetition enforcing the order. To a 
would-be investigator of passing dogs, etc., he 
may say, " Bachelor ! Leave it ! Bachelor ! " or, 
^'^ Druid! 'Ware sheep ! Druid!" etc., while the 
pack may be rated, " All of yer ! Get for'rard ! 
All of yer!'' or, ^'■'Turn over to him," if they 
straggle. Your own commands may run as fol- 
lows : at starting, " Coop ! puppies. Coop ! come 
away, 1-a-a-ds ! " ; on finding, a sort of treble 
scream, like " Yo-o-o-o-i ! for'rard ! for'rard ! 
Go-o-ne away," as loud as you can yell, accom- 
panied by a cheer to the hound that owns it, 
as, '■^Prattler, hoick! Hoick, Prattler!'' and 
when they are drawing, " Yeo ! try for it ! Ye-o-o, 
rouse him out ! Yeoo, work for him, puppies ! " 

276 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

Many huntsmen keep up a running fire of falsetto 
encouragement to their hounds, but it has never 
seemed productive of good resuhs and has a 
tendency to distract their attention. They know 
their business, and if you can catch a fox yourself, 
why go ahead and do it ! It makes them indifferent 
also, when a crisis really arrives, and if they have 
been rarely interfered with, your voice then brings 
energetic response, and eager work. If they 
" kennel-know " you and love you, they will try all 
they can, anyhow. When the " kill " comes, call 
them by name, as, " Bachelor ^ here ! Music ! Van- 
ity^ old woman ! " etc., and after the " who-o-op ! " 
which has announced the finish, cry, " Worry ^ 
worry, worry ! Tear him and eat him ! " and so 
on. To make hounds drink, the words "Suss, 
suss ! " are used. There are numerous other 
rates, cheers, and calls, but every huntsman has 
his pet vocabulary, and you will by degrees 
acquire one of your own. Readers will pardon 
these details, which are feebly and incompletely 
set forth, as well as matter-of-course to all who 
have hunted, but this is intended for those who 
have not^ and only as a general guide at that. 

No details of the management of bag-foxes and 
their destruction, if hounds can be induced to 

277 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

touch the poor brutes, which sometimes they will 
not, will be given here, and if your sport (?) is 
not complete without this feature, then may your 
undertakings in the hunting line prove dismal 
failures ! How any collection of ordinarily civi- 
lized beings can find their pleasure enhanced by 
the killing of a poor little wretch which is turned 
out in a strange locality, too feeble from long 
confinement to run any distance, too bewildered 
to seek any sanctuary, or to know where such 
may be found, is as much a mystery as its perpe- 
tration is an inhuman outrage on decency. The 
flimsy excuse that hounds " need blood " is ridic- 
ulous and untrue ; there are successful packs in 
all countries that never kill, and do not even taste 
raw meat at the "finish." That a "bagman " is 
highly distasteful to hounds, anyway, is proven by 
the fact that if they do kill him, they often refuse 
to either " break him up," or eat him. One view 
of the wretched, hunted creature, probably a cub, 
tongue out, brush dragging as he struggles hope- 
lessly along, is enough to make one's blood run 
cold ; and it is safe to say that, had the bulk of 
the field any opportunity to view such a spectacle 
they would promptly demand its abolition, or 
abandon hunting entirely. A wild fox at large in 

278 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

his own country, all holes (or earths) unstopped, 
has a fair chance, if he gets away with a decent 
start, and he is probably a chicken-stealing rogue, 
which deserves extermination. Your rotten little 
mangy bagman, however, has no such chance, 
but runs aimlessly on until he is caught, or drops 
from sheer exhaustion, or else seeks the nearest 
fence corner, where he stops and faces his foes, 
dying like the hopeless little desperado he is. 

There are wild foxes in certain localities, nota- 
bly about Philadelphia, which have been hunted 
time and again, and which really seem to enjoy 
the outing, affording good runs sometimes for 
years, and then dying peacefully of old age ; but 
such cases are few, and as, sooner or later, all 
American hunting must be after the drag, let that 
be the legitimate object of pursuit, and for human- 
ity's sake, leave out the bag-fox features. 

Tame deer have been used a little in this coun- 
try for pursuit, and have afforded good sport, 
their tendency to take to the roads, and to " soil " 
obstinately in water when pressed, presenting the 
chief drawbacks to their employment. Of course 
they are never killed, and equally, of course, the 
master and whips must be well up, or they may 
be, but it takes a mighty fast pack to catch a deer 

279 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

that has fair " law " and means going. Not a few 
of these old-stagers seem to enjoy the chase, and 
will keep just far enough in front to make hounds 
do their best, until nearing the finish, when they 
really " set sail " for the box-stall that awaits 
them, to which they unerringly return. They 
are a bother to procure and keep, however, and 
should not be seriously considered. 

The farmers, over whose lands one hunts, 
must be cared for properly, and made to realize, 
by purchase of supplies from them when possi- 
ble, and by prompt settlement of any reasonable 
damage claims, that hunting is to their interest. 
Picnics, dances, etc., should feature each season, 
once at least ; growing crops, new meadows, etc., 
should be shunned ; smashed rails should be at 
once replaced, the dragsman going over the course 
the very next morning with spare rails, boards, 
etc., stamped with the club stencil, so that there 
may be no question about it, and making good 
all damages ; claims for stock getting out, etc., 
should be courteously considered, and promptly 
settled ; ask permission of all land-owners first, 
and shun carefully the premises of all who ob- 
ject ; their number will be few if they are prop- 
erly approached, and the objects clearly explained. 

280 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

As your sport is possible only on their sufferance, 
let them understand that you appreciate it, and 
will requite the courtesy in kind. 

Hounds are quite subject to fits in hot weather, 
if hunted, and periods between checks should be 
brief for that reason ; the scent rather lightly laid, 
that the pace may not be too fast. Checking 
near water is best for this reason, and if any show 
signs of exhaustion the time at check may be 
prolonged until recovery is made. Occasionally 
one must be bled, but this is so rare as hardly to 
merit consideration. If you must act you may 
scarify the roof of the mouth, or may bleed from 
the jugular, taking care to make all safe afterward 
by running a pin through the edges of the cut 
and twisting about it a few hairs from your 
horse's mane ; his tail will afford none long 
enough, now that this infernal fashion of docking 
prevails. 

Your kennel needs in the medical line will be 
few ; an occasional dose of physic (as castor oil 
and syrup of buckthorn), a blue pill for a slug- 
gish liver, etc., will about complete the list unless 
you undertake to raise puppies and breed your 
own hounds. As most masters finally essay this 
disappointing undertaking, however, they should 

28l 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

have at hand some of the works upon diseases 
of dogs, and will find plenty of opportunity to 
practise. Distemper will rarely trouble you if 
you buy drafts of full age for such purposes 
as the average drag pack requires. It is the 
height of folly to try to breed, although handling 
puppies, training them, and watching them learn 
to work is great fun. If you successfully raise 
six couple out of twenty pups you are doing 
wonders ; and if two couple out of the six are 
any account you are in great luck. The game is 
not worth the candle, save as a side issue. A 
number of true and tried receipts for various 
ailments are appended, and it is hoped that these 
rambling and imperfect notes may urge you to 
actively take up this most interesting sport, and 
derive from it the health and the unlimited en- 
joyment that such outdoor recreation, and its 
attendant intimate association with dumb animals, 
has procured for the writer. 

Vermifuge 

25 grains areca-nut 
2 grains santonine 
Follow in two hours with tablespoon castor oil. Repeat in 
three days. Withhold food twenty-four hours previous. Pups, 
half quantity. 

282 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

Chorea (Following Distemper) 

y2 grain strychnine ^ dram extract gentian 

9 grains quinine i^ dram Barbadoes aloes 

3 grains extr. belladonna 

Make 36 pills ; one twice daily before food. 

Vermifuge 

20 drops oil male fern 
30 drops oil turpentine 
60 drops ether 
Beat up with egg. One dose. 

Canker (Ears, etc.) 

6 grains nitrate of silver 
I ounce water 
Use twice daily. 

Fever Mixture 

1 dram powdered nitre i dram wine of antimony 
\^ ounce sweet nitre 4 ounces water 

1 1^ ounce minderous spirit 

Tablespoonful in gruel every four hours. 

Distemper Mixture 

2 drams chlorate potash 2 drams tincture of henbane 

1 ounce minderous spirit 2^ ounces water 

2 drams sweet nitre 

Dissolve potash in water ; add rest. Teaspoonful to table- 
spoonful twice daily, according to size of dog. 

283 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

Stomach Stimulant 
I dram extract gentian 
36 grains powdered rhubarb 
I 2 grains carbonate of soda 
Make 1 2 pills ; three daily. 

Fleas 
Strong solution quassia chips 

Poor Feeder 
One grain sulphate quinine daily, in powder. 

What, then, may we count upon as the approx- 
imate cost of an unpretentious establishment, such 
as described, hunted and whipped by amateurs, 
and cheaply handled in every way, to afford runs 
of three days per week ? Such amateurs as are 
able to enter actively into this sport, and to give 
the necessary time to it, can well afford to horse 
themselves, and should do so ; but for the sake 
of argument we will assume that the club decides 
to provide their horses. Animals such as will do 
the work can be procured at auctions, etc., ready 
schooled, for very little money, and many useful 
screws are noticed at such sales selling for fifty 
dollars and less. Of course, heavy men must 
usually pay more, but for drag hunting there is 
no occasion for a welterweight being horsed 
as he would be for a whole day with hounds. 

284 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

Most horses, up to one hundred and seventy-five 
pounds, will carry two hundred pounds perfectly 
well for an hour or two, and bulk in the quad- 
ruped by no means insures safety to the biped. 
Action is what carries weight — level, true, effort- 
less, galloping action — and little horses are often 
as competent for the undertaking as the big, 
robust brutes generally selected. A tall horse 
makes fences look smaller ; he has no other 
merit of any kind. 

This, then, is the schedule for the year, the 
club furnishing kennel room and stall room free : 

Original Outlay 

Four horses @ ^loo ;^400,oo 

Ten couple hounds @ ;^io loo.oo 

Saddles, bridles, etc loo.oo 

Coats 80.00 



Cost of Keep, etc.. Per Month 
Feed, etc., four horses @ $12 . 

Shoeing 

Veterinary, etc 

Dragsman 

Kennelman and groom . 
Feed, etc., hounds @ $2 

Sundry 

Fence repairs, damages, etc. (?) 



285 



8.00 
5.00 
50.00 
50.00 
40.00 
25.00 



^226.00 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

The saddles, bridles, clothing, coats, etc., as 
with the horses, would probably be provided by 
the amateur officials. Hounds may often be pur- 
chased for much less than the price named — I5 
per head. 

The amount named for feeding the horses is 
ample for any locality ; in many sections they can 
be well done for half the money. Shoeing, at $2 
a set, averages rather high, and, if tips are used, 
expense is halved. Veterinary should hardly be 
needed, but may be occasionally. The kennel- 
man, if he also " does " the horses, some of them, 
and is competent, is worth $60 if he boards 
himself; if the club gives that, he should get 
about $3Sy at^d presents, etc., at Christmas will 
help out nicely. The dragsman, if regularly 
employed, may also help about horses and ken- 
nels, and work " by the run " (at $5) ; or for 
so much per month, or the kennelman may also 
lay drag, and will be glad of the chance, if an 
active fellow, as he must be. A lad at $10 a 
month and board can help about kennels, etc., if 
necessary. As a matter of fact, the writer has 
always found it possible to get one man to do 
the whole job, hounds, horses, drag, and all, 
and never paid over $60 to a man (who also 

286 



THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 

boarded himself). Christmas, however, brought 
in at least ^75 more, and other tips were fre- 
quent. While the work is hard, for a few months, 
it is easy the balance of the year, and the wage 
drops correspondingly, as do the expenses of keep- 
ing the animals. Hounds may be well fed at $2 
each per month, when in work. The expense of 
repairs and damages will be light, if farmers are 
favorably disposed to begin with, and are prop- 
erly approached for the privileges desired. The 
writer never had to pay a penny for anything 
during three years in one country, and but a few 
dollars in another for a calf and a few hens de- 
stroyed by straggling hounds. 

All told, then, five months' hunting, spring, 
six weeks, and late summer and fall, three months 
or more, may be enjoyed for an outside expense 
of about $1,500, and probably for very much 
less, which, if the club has twenty members or so, 
entails a very slight individual outlay per month. 
The season over, all horses and hounds may be 
sold, and a fresh start made when time approaches 
for again beginning. 



287 



Chapter XVIII 

SHOWING HORSES 

TO successfully handle horses in the 
show ring implies a contest of intelli- 
gence between judges and exhibitors, 
in which the officials make every 
effort to discover imperfections of manners, gait, 
etc., while the " nagsmen " try their best not 
only to display their charges to advantage, but to 
conceal or modify all short-comings. Amateurs 
to this extent, strive to emulate professionals, 
and adopt methods which, in their own investiga- 
tions as purchasers, they are prone to resent 
upon the part of the purveyors, and to consider 
proper in the arena, artifices which they denounce 
in the sale stable. As this is proper — or if this 
is allowable — in the former case, it certainly 
should not be condemned in the latter, and if 
attempts to hoodwink the judicial eye are toler- 
ated, the hackneyed motto " Caveat emptor " de- 
mands equal respect. As showman or salesman, 

288 



SHOWING HORSES 

all goods should be displayed to the best advan- 
tage, if satisfactory results are to follow, and we 
have many amateurs who are as alive to every 
" trick of the trade " in showing a horse as the 
best professional. 

To make the best possible impression upon 
show functionaries every detail of equipage must 
be just right. This does not mean that the 
absurd appointment fad must be exactly copied, 
but that the eternal fitness of things must be 
plainly evidenced in the conformation, action, 
and qualities of the animals, — grace and appro- 
priateness in size and variety of the vehicle, and 
neatness, snugness, and good fashion and fit of 
harness, or of saddle and bridle. An absurdly 
short dock, an unkempt and crooked tail, shaggy 
mane and fetlocks, dirty vehicle and trappings, — : 
all affect results ; and while it is true that a horse 
should win on his merits, his entourage has its 
proper effect on the outcome, and very justly. If 
pains are not taken to please the official eye, the 
offender has but his own neglect to blame if 
passed over. 

The great trouble with the average amateur is 
self-consciousness, and the fact that through it he 
works himself into a state of nervousness which 
'9 289 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

affects his horse the moment he takes up his 
reins. That " wireless telegraph " is instantly in 
action, and the animal is disconcerted before the 
time for action arrives, — half beaten before the 
battle begins. Again, he has watched profes- 
sionals "nagging" their horses with bit, whip, 
and voice to make them display the action and 
carriage necessary, and he makes efforts to emu- 
late them which result only in confusing and up- 
setting his charge, forgetting, or not appreciating, 
that half their performance is " gallery work " 
only, and that, through incessant practice, they 
intuitively understand just how far to go, and 
just when to stop, or to change methods. Almost 
any horse that is up to show form, performs at 
his best when handled quietly, and allowed to 
display himself in his own way. There are some 
sluggards, and regular winners at that, which 
have to be waked up (outside the ring) with 
stimulants and bale-stick, and to be flogged, 
jerked, " fished," and lifted when contesting, as 
if in the last strides of a race, but these are not 
the sort the tyro will wish either to own or to 
handle, if he is the good sportsman we all ad- 
mire, and with a soul above mere mug-and-rib- 
bon-hunting. Ladies usually accomplish wonders 

290 



SHOWING HORSES 

in such competitions, because they are not so 
assertive as the sterner sex, and being willing that 
the animals should do their best in their own 
way do not hamper them by misdirected efforts 
to better the performance ; their hands are lighter 
and more firm, and they are usually more self- 
possessed. 

Most people entirely misconstrue the phrase 
" good hands," and the people who pride them- 
selves upon these possessions will be generally 
found not to send their horses up to their bits ; 
instead of the " give and take," their method is 
all " give." Nor is manipulation the only requi- 
site of this accomplishment. It must include the 
intuitive knowledge of what a horse is about to 
do ; how he is about to do it ; and the instant 
frustration of any outbreak or mistake in just 
the proper degree, which is so instinctive that it 
becomes automatic. " Horse sense " and sym- 
pathetic intelligence are essentials which may de- 
velop through association, but are usually a 
matter of personality alone. The very best 
" hands " often appear rough, and are when re- 
sistance demands coercion, for the definition of 
" hands," roughly put, is "the faculty of making 
a horse do what we want in the way we want it, 

291 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

and with advantage to himself." He who affects 
this unerringly, be attitude and methods what 
they may, indisputably possesses " hands " in 
their finest development. 

On the first appearance of a class, judges do 
not want, nor do they regard favorably any sen- 
sational performances. At this stage their efforts 
are directed toward culling out the unfit, and any 
excessive display upon the part of your horse 
will go for nothing so far as results are concerned. 
If you have even an outside chance you will be 
duly " lined up " among the elect : all energy 
should be reserved for the struggle which is to 
come later. Go carefully into all the corners of 
the ring, therefore, taking the longest way round 
that your steed may get the utmost benefit from 
the straight sides, and not be perpetually on the 
turn, or in an unbalanced attitude. He will, if 
he has had no preliminary experience in an en- 
closure, be at a huge disadvantage anyhow as 
compared with those who have enjoyed this re- 
hearsal. Let the racers race, and the hustlers 
strive, a dignified and quiet progress is all you 
should attempt, although once, when they have 
begun to choose the eligibles, you may make one 
" parade " just to clinch things with the judges. 

292 



SHOWING HORSES 

When coming into line at the call of the ring- 
master, it does no harm, if your horse is an fait in 
such accomplishments, to go a length or two 
beyond your place, and then, after puUing up, to 
back into position,especially if a judge is looking. 
You prove good manners at once. If your horse 
is quiet, you may now, by your apparent disre- 
gard of him, emphasize his merits in the way of 
quietness when standing, and should always, if 
possible, uncheck him while in repose, the long 
waits proving very fatiguing to cramped and 
twisted neck-muscles. Keep him square on his 
legs, and light in hand, and if the judges ask you 
to back, do not make the common error of at 
once trying to haul him back, but be sure that 
he is " on his feet," and so placed that it is 
-physically possible for him to comply. One some- 
times sees exhibitors trying vainly to perform this 
simplest of manoeuvres with horses whose atti- 
tude precludes the possibility of their obedience. 
Never try to overdo it, or back one step after 
the judge's gesture shows that he is satisfied, for 
your horse may turn restive from any cause, and 
suddenly rebel. " Let well enough alone " in 
all such undertakings. 

Called upon for a second display, it is probably 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

your last chance, for ribbons may come any time 
now. If you can manage to lead off you are 
lucky, as you can turn the way about the arena 
which your horse prefers, and in the direction he 
shows best, for all horses have preferences this 
way. By being in front you may also regulate 
the pace, for a few turns at least, to that which 
fits your charge's ability, displaying fast pace, if 
allowed, to the detriment of others, or retarding 
it if yours is a flash mover at the slower rate (and 
others may be inconvenienced thereby). You 
should still go well into the corners, and be sure 
the judges will appreciate your reasons, and 
award you due consideration for your care. If 
you are deficient in pace, this manoeuvre will 
puzzle them as to just how much your horse 
lacks in this respect, inasmuch as you are going 
a longer way round than any one, and would 
naturally lose ground. 

If you can detect the dangerous horse, and do 
not fear, or would challenge, comparison, get be- 
hind him if possible, where you can observe, and 
copy all his tactics, if imitation seems best; if not, 
you may offer the proper contrast, and beat him 
then and there. Above all things do not try to 
pass any horse on the turns, and be careful of the 

294 



SHOWING HORSES 

rights of others in that you attempt no cutting 
off of contending horses, by pulling across them, 
and forcing them to shorten stride, or to pull up 
altogether. A number of professional tricks have 
been adopted by some of our amateurs, and no 
good can come of it. 

A saddle class makes its appearance at a walk, 
as should all others, but that we have fallen into 
the error of disregarding, officially, a horse's abil- 
ities at this, the most important pace he employs. 
The bold, free, upheaded, flat-footed walker, is as 
hard to beat as he is to find. Ride your horse 
every yard, and keep one eye on the judges, if 
he is a slack walker, ready to seize the opportu- 
nity to jog a few steps up to your leader, and re- 
gain the ground you have lost. When told to 
trot, take a nice collected park pace, such as your 
animal can exhibit without hopping or hitching, 
and stick to it, going closely into the corners, and 
making your mount bend himself nicely ; at the 
canter ^ — and never let that pace degenerate into 
the gallop, — go calmly and collectedly, changing 
your lead in straight going if you can (and if a 
judge is looking), as evidence of handiness. On 
lining up, take room for yourself, and give it to 
others, and after your mount has stretched his 

295 



FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 

neck and shifted his bits, keep him lightly in 
hand ready to obey the judges' directions at a 
moment's notice ; do not expect them to wait 
while you sort out your reins, fix your hat and 
stirrups, and when ordered, gradually get under 
way. 

The same methods apply in a way to hunting 
classes, and the principal requirement is to go a 
fair hunting pace all the way, and not to be pull- 
ing up to a walk and starting again at a gallop at 
every fence. 

Select stabling that is the quietest in the build- 
ing, or preferably stable outside. The bustle and 
the bad air will put many a horse completely off 
his feed if kept in the building, and unless you 
are dealing there is no advantage in stabling there ; 
while your vehicles inevitably get badly banged 
about in such places, your harness scratched, and 
your smaller valuables hypothecated. Alwavs be 
ready long before the call, and do not annoy the 
management, and get the judges down on you by 
causing delay either through carelessness, or 
through a desire to make a sensational, if tardy, 
entry and set the crowd to asking, " Who is 
that?" Such cheap methods of advertising are 
beneath you. 

296 



SHOWING HORSES 

Horses travel best by express, and should 
always be well bandaged, and protected, as to the 
crown of the head, from bruises, by placing a pad 
over the brow, while the tail should be carefully 
bandaged that it may not be disfigured by rub- 
bing or chafing. 

Watch your men carefully, that not only may 
they do their work properly, but that they may 
give no cause to public or officials for complaint. 
You are responsible for the appearance and man- 
ners of your servants, and should carefully arrange 
that they are beyond reproach. 

Above all things, never expect to win, but 
treat losing as an essential of the game. Anybody 
can win gracefully. If thus prepared for defeat 
your occasional successes will prove doubly grate- 
ful ; if the reverse obtains, your losses will be 
hard to bear, your winnings never compensatory, 
you will find the amusement an irksome task, and 
quickly degenerate into a leading member of that 
huge body of hard losers and " chronic kickers " 
which no sport has so ably developed as the in- 
adequately expensive game of horse showing. 



297 



The Private Stable 

Its Establishment Managements and Appointments 
By JAMES A. GARLAND.*?.*?/*? 

NEW EDITION. WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS, 
FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 8vo. CLOTH, $5.00 net 



MR. GARLAND'S valuable book has been for some time 
out of print. The new chapters in this edition are : 
" Hunters and Hunting," by Harry W. Smith, one of 
the leading riders in America; "Exhibiting," by Francis M. Ware, 
manager of the American Horse Exchange, New York; "Riding 
for Women," by Belle Beach, the expert woman rider; "Four- 
in-Hand Driving," bv Frederick Ashenden, the leading profes- 
sional whip, with additional suggestions as to the handling of reins 
in driving a single, pair, or four-in-hand ; and "Notes on Riding,'" 
by T. C. P. of Toronto. The new edition has additional illustra- 
tions and will be found of greater value than ever to all interested 
in horses and stables. 

fi ^ ^ 

OPINIONS REGARDING THE FIRST EDITION 

We heartily indorse the work as one of the best that has come to our 
attention. — RiJer and Dri'ver. 

Everything that needs to be known for the successful establishment and man- 
agement of a private stable seems to be contained between the covers of this 
excellent manual. — Re'vie^w of Re-vie^ws. 

It is a treasure-house of valuable and accurate information. — Ne^w York World. 

The touch of the master of his subject is discernable on every page of this 

book. — A^. T. Mail and Express. 



LITTLE, BROWN, £ff COMPANY, Publishers 
254 WASHINGTON STREET • BOSTON, MASS. 



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